Genes make some people mosquito targets, twins pilot study shows

The likelihood of being bitten by mosquitoes could be down to our genes, according to a study carried out on twins.

Although this was a pilot study, it provides exciting information which may allow us to understand more about how our intimate relationship with mosquitoes has evolved. Ultimately the finding could result in the development of better ways to control mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit.

Research from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine found, for the first time, an underlying genetic component to how attractive we are to mosquitoes and this is likely to be caused by genetic control of our body odour.

The findings are published in PLOS ONE and build on previous research where it was shown that attractiveness to insects is based on differences in body odour. People who are less attractive to mosquitoes produce natural repellents. It seems that this trait is genetically controlled.

Hormone receptor found that allows mosquitoes to reproduce

University of Georgia entomologists have unlocked one of the hormonal mechanisms that allow mosquitoes to produce eggs.

The results provide insight into how reproduction is regulated in female mosquitoes, which transmit agents that cause malaria and other diseases in humans and domestic animals. Their work was published in the April edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Mosquitoes feed on sugar water in Mark Brown's endocrinology lab at the University of Georgia.

Credit: April Sorrow/University of Georgia

The model for this research is the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. Females have to consume a blood meal before they are able to produce a batch of eggs. The blood meal triggers the mosquito's brain to release two hormones, an insulin-like peptide known as ILP and an ovary ecdysteroid-ogenic hormone known as OEH, which activate processes in the female mosquito that result in mature eggs.

Asian rock pool mosquitoes on the move: Modeling identifies risk hotspots in Germany

Scientists at the Senckenberg Research Center for Biodiversity and Climate and at the Goethe University, in conjunction with other German colleagues, have developed distribution models for the invasive Asian rock pool mosquito. This mosquito species is a potential carrier of vectors for infectious diseases, such as dengue fever or West Nile virus. In a recent study, published in the scientific journal Parasitology Research, the scientists identified new risk hotspots in Southern Hesse, the Saarland and northern North Rhine-Westphalia, and they recommend a careful monitoring of this invasive insect.

 

 

 

Head of a female Asian rock pool mosquito.

Credit: © Senckenberg 

 

 

 Chinese mitten crabs, ring-necked parakeets, rheas and Egyptian geese: exotic species have long since become part of German ecosystems and now live right in our midst. In Germany alone, more than one thousand non-native animal species are registered -- but most of the introduced species do not survive the winter in our latitudes. "However, the Asian rock pool mosquito is a different case," says Professor Dr. Sven Klimpel, a parasitologist at the Senckenberg Research Center for Biodiversity and Climate and the Goethe University in Frankfurt, and he adds, "These mosquitoes have spread extensively across Germany and Europe in recent years." For the first time, the dipterans were reported in 2008 from southern Baden-Wuerttemberg; since then, populations have also become established in Lower Saxony, Rhineland-Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia. Contrary to the Asian tiger mosquito, the Asian rock pool mosquito is adapted to cooler temperatures and is perfectly able to cope with the climatic conditions in Central Europe.

Larval competition between invasive mosquitoes impacts their adult survival

With spring showers come Floridians' least-favorite companion -- the mosquito -- and a team of researchers with the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences has found in a recent study that larval competition between the Yellow Fever Mosquito and Asian Tiger Mosquito impacts adult survival, which may influence their ability to transmit dangerous diseases.

"We think of mosquitoes as winged pests. However, we also know that these winged pests are not only a nuisance, they can also transmit very nasty pathogens that cause disease in humans and animals," said Barry Alto, an assistant professor at UF's Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, who led the study published this month in the Journal of Medical Entomology. "Older mosquitoes are potentially more dangerous because they have had a greater chance of becoming infected with pathogens, like dengue or chikungunya viruses, and so may transmit that pathogen to people."