Location: Tropical Crop and Commodity Protection Research
Title: Drivers of mosquito matingAuthor
|
Submitted to: Science
Publication Type: Review Article Publication Acceptance Date: 12/23/2020 Publication Date: 1/22/2021 Citation: Manoukis, N. 2021. Drivers of mosquito mating. Science. 371(6527):340-341. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf7917. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf7917 Interpretive Summary: In this perspective article I give a short overview the research findings of a paper published in the same issue, intended for a very broad audience of scientists. In a capsule, the perspective explains how cicadian genes and environmental cues, plus a CHC, are implicated in malaria vector mating. Technical Abstract: At first glance, the sex lives of mosquitoes may seem an esoteric topic. Yet, elucidating the details of mosquito mating may impact hundreds of millions of human lives each year. Here I give my perspective on the article of Wang et al., published in this journal, that links clock gene expression, light, and temperature to the formation of male swarms of the Anopheles malaria vectors. They also provide evidence of a role for the desaturase gene desat1 in the production of the cuticular hydrocarbon (CHC) hepascosane, which their results suggest stimulates mating- a first for these species. These findings significantly add to our knowledge of the molecular factors and their interaction with environment that together drive mating behavior in these mosquitoes, which include the principal malaria vectors in Africa, where in 2018 93% of the world’s estimated 228 million cases and 94% its 405,000 malaria deaths occurred. |
