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Scientists Discover how Mosquitoes Zero in on our Sweat:
Just like fresh-baked cookies or sizzling bacon is to us, the scent of your sweat is a mouthwatering aroma to mosquitoes. Now, scientists have discovered how these undesirable insects zero in on our delectable odor.
It's actually the odor from lactic acid and other acidic volatiles found in human sweat that some mosquitoes are attracted to when seeking a blood meal. A team of researchers from the Laboratory of Tropical Genetics at Florida International University in Miami, has identified a unique olfactory receptor used to detect these odors in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are known to transmit dangerous and sometimes deadly diseases including yellow fever, dengue and Zika. The guilty receptor is known to scientists as Ionotropic Receptor 8a, or simply IR8a.
"People have been looking for more than 40 years," said FIU biologist Matthew DeGennaro, who leads the lab where the discovery was made. "Even in the 1960s, scientists knew it was sweat and lactic acid, but no one knew how those were sensed. Back then, mosquito scientists didn't have genetics."
[...] The FIU team's discovery could give rise to a new generation of attractants to lure adult mosquitoes to traps for population control. It also offers researchers a roadmap for making people invisible—at least to mosquitoes.
"Blocking the IR8a pathway could be an important strategy for repellent design," DeGennaro said.
[...] More information: Joshua I. Raji et al. Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes Detect Acidic Volatiles Found in Human Odor Using the IR8a Pathway, Current Biology (2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2019.02.045
Unable to locate a meal, they will be unable to lay eggs and will starve. How many species rely on mosquitoes for food?
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @07:52AM (3 children)
Frost piss down the probiscus of a mosquito, because SN is dead, reduced to mosquito stories, and right wing agit-prop about NZ. Perhaps it is better if we all just leave, and let the mosquitoes have their way with TMB.
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Saturday March 30 2019, @11:55AM
Yes, that's like two newsworthy stories out of 15! Oh em gee!
You do realize that he routinely takes them on in their natural environment?
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday March 30 2019, @01:37PM (1 child)
Please don't shut down SN. This is the only news site that brings news to mosquito scientists!
When I was a kid I lived alone with my mom. She used to tell me my dad was a blood sucking mosquito. She often mentioned it in the summer as she smacked a mosquito, leaving the blood and the legs from the mosquito stuck in the dominating hair on her arms. I started collecting the mosquitos, protecting them, because they reminded me of my dad. I put them in small jars with drops of my blood in it. I started studying their dead bodies and one day I said to my mom; "I'm going to be a mosquito scientist!". "YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED. YOU'RE GROUNDED!" she replied and I said "I can do whatever I want mom, I'm 42 years old!" and then I left without as much as cleaning up my room. I was finally going to be a Mosquito Scientist!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday March 31 2019, @12:28AM
Crawford is that you? I feel his presence.