If you’ve ever wondered how mosquitoes manage to spot you even when you’re covered in insect repellent, scientists might have found the reason. A recent study published in the journal Cell found that mosquitoes have an evolved and unconventional sense of smell that provides them with a foolproof method of finding humans.
“The canonical view is that olfactory sensory neurons each express a single chemosensory receptor that defines its ligand selectivity,” the study notes, adding that in Ae. In the Aegypti mosquitoes that have been studied, they have been found to have “numerous neurons co-expressing multiple chemosensory receptor genes”.
Simply put, this specialized olfactory sense goes once morest the common olfactory understanding of “one neuron, one receptor”. In humans, for example, each time an odor reaches the nose, it triggers a sensory receptor, following which the corresponding neurons transmit the message to the brain.
In mosquitoes, according to the study, different receptors can respond to different odors in the same neuron. So even if one family of receptors is altered, it doesn’t hamper the mosquito’s ability to find and feast on human blood.
Mosquitoes are intensely attracted to body odor and carbon dioxide, and previous research has shown that eliminating entire receptors in mosquitoes that are used to decode carbon dioxide does not prevent them from finding their human prey.
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The latest study indicates why this might be happening. The research team behind the study said they did not expect to find out when they embarked on the research project. But development is essential to combat these persistent human enemies.
Mosquitoes transmit diseases like malaria, West Nile virus, Zika virus, and dengue, among others. The researchers said they hope a better understanding of the olfactory functions of insects will help humans design repellents that work better to keep them at bay.
