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Zhao Z, Zung JL, Hinze A, Kriete AL, Iqbal A, Younger MA, Matthews BJ, Merhof D, Thiberge S, Ignell R, Strauch M, McBride CS. Mosquito brains encode unique features of human odour to drive host seeking. Nature 2022; 605:706-712. [PMID: 35508661 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04675-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2020] [Accepted: 03/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
A globally invasive form of the mosquito Aedes aegypti specializes in biting humans, making it an efficient disease vector1. Host-seeking female mosquitoes strongly prefer human odour over the odour of animals2,3, but exactly how they distinguish between the two is not known. Vertebrate odours are complex blends of volatile chemicals with many shared components4-7, making discrimination an interesting sensory coding challenge. Here we show that human and animal odours evoke activity in distinct combinations of olfactory glomeruli within the Ae. aegypti antennal lobe. One glomerulus in particular is strongly activated by human odour but responds weakly, or not at all, to animal odour. This human-sensitive glomerulus is selectively tuned to the long-chain aldehydes decanal and undecanal, which we show are consistently enriched in human odour and which probably originate from unique human skin lipids. Using synthetic blends, we further demonstrate that signalling in the human-sensitive glomerulus significantly enhances long-range host-seeking behaviour in a wind tunnel, recapitulating preference for human over animal odours. Our research suggests that animal brains may distil complex odour stimuli of innate biological relevance into simple neural codes and reveals targets for the design of next-generation mosquito-control strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhilei Zhao
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. .,Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. .,Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. .,Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA.
| | - Jessica L Zung
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Annika Hinze
- Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
| | - Alexis L Kriete
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Graduate Program in Entomology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Azwad Iqbal
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Meg A Younger
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Benjamin J Matthews
- Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA.,Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Dorit Merhof
- Institute of Imaging & Computer Vision, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Stephan Thiberge
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.,Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA
| | - Rickard Ignell
- Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Alnarp, Sweden
| | - Martin Strauch
- Institute of Imaging & Computer Vision, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
| | - Carolyn S McBride
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. .,Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA. .,Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
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Rose NH, Sylla M, Badolo A, Lutomiah J, Ayala D, Aribodor OB, Ibe N, Akorli J, Otoo S, Mutebi JP, Kriete AL, Ewing EG, Sang R, Gloria-Soria A, Powell JR, Baker RE, White BJ, Crawford JE, McBride CS. Climate and Urbanization Drive Mosquito Preference for Humans. Curr Biol 2020; 30:3570-3579.e6. [PMID: 32707056 PMCID: PMC7511451 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.092] [Citation(s) in RCA: 105] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Revised: 06/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
The majority of mosquito-borne illness is spread by a few mosquito species that have evolved to specialize in biting humans, yet the precise causes of this behavioral shift are poorly understood. We address this gap in the arboviral vector Aedes aegypti. We first collect and characterize the behavior of mosquitoes from 27 sites scattered across the species' ancestral range in sub-Saharan Africa, revealing previously unrecognized variation in preference for human versus animal odor. We then use modeling to show that over 80% of this variation can be predicted by two ecological factors-dry season intensity and human population density. Finally, we integrate this information with whole-genome sequence data from 375 individual mosquitoes to identify a single underlying ancestry component linked to human preference. Genetic changes associated with human specialist ancestry were concentrated in a few chromosomal regions. Our findings suggest that human-biting in this important disease vector originally evolved as a by-product of breeding in human-stored water in areas where doing so provided the only means to survive the long, hot dry season. Our model also predicts that the rapid urbanization currently taking place in Africa will drive further mosquito evolution, causing a shift toward human-biting in many large cities by 2050.
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Affiliation(s)
- Noah H Rose
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
| | - Massamba Sylla
- Unité d'Entomologie, de Bactériologie, de Virologie, Département de Biologie Animale, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques, Université Cheikh Anta DIOP BP 5005 Dakar, Senegal
| | - Athanase Badolo
- Laboratory of Fundamental and Applied Entomology, Université Joseph Ki-Zerbo, 03 BP 7021 Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
| | - Joel Lutomiah
- Arbovirus/Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers Laboratory, Center for Virus Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Diego Ayala
- UMR MIVEGEC, IRD, CNRS, Univ. Montpellier, 911 avenue Agropolis, BP 64501, 34394 Montpellier, France; Le Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville, BP 769, Franceville, Gabon
| | | | - Nnenna Ibe
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Jewelna Akorli
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - Sampson Otoo
- Department of Parasitology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana
| | - John-Paul Mutebi
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO 80521, USA
| | - Alexis L Kriete
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Eliza G Ewing
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Rosemary Sang
- Arbovirus/Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers Laboratory, Center for Virus Research, Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI), Nairobi, Kenya
| | - Andrea Gloria-Soria
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Jeffrey R Powell
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 21 Sachem Street, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Rachel E Baker
- Princeton Environmental Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
| | - Bradley J White
- Verily Life Sciences, 259 East Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Jacob E Crawford
- Verily Life Sciences, 259 East Grand Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080, USA
| | - Carolyn S McBride
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA; Princeton Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA.
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