Citronella, repellents, mosquito bracelets … Subterfuges are sometimes not enough to block the mosquitoes that persist in gargling your blood. Italian researchers may have found a way to make them want you sting. Their work published in Plos One suggest that controlling a gene present in mosquitoes would regulate their craving for sugar and their attraction to human blood.
Italian researchers analyzed the behavior of tiger mosquitoAedes albopictus, native to Southeast Asia. The insect invasion in many European countries such as France worried because the mosquito can be vector of the virus of the dengue, of chikungunya, and Zika virus.
Female tiger mosquitoes suck blood for energy for their eggs to develop and also feed on sugar from plant nectars or sap, says abc news. Based on this premise, the researchers wanted to know if sugary food could regulate the attraction of mosquitoes to human blood. For this, they administered a sugar solution to young female mosquitoes. Placed under plastic cups, a hand was then placed near the guinea pigs to assess urges for blood. As a result, the sugar-fed mosquitoes did not feel like biting for six to seven days.
Controlling a gene to change mosquito behavior
To understand this reaction, the researchers sequenced the DNA of sugar-fed mosquitoes. They discovered a change in the vitellogenin gene called Vg-2. This regulates the foraging behavior of mosquitoes, and therefore in particular human blood. The gene also encodes a protein that plays a role in ovarian development in female mosquitoes. The higher the expression of this gene, the more mosquitoes search for human blood. Controlling the expression of this gene could therefore be a weapon against mosquito bites, the researchers believe.
The identification of this mechanism constitutes an interesting avenue for controlling the behavior of human blood research in mosquitoes. This “could pave the way for new strategies […] aimed at reducing the activity of mosquito bite“, and reduce the transmission of diseases carried by tiger mosquitoes.
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