1. Mosquito heat seeking is driven by an ancestral cooling receptor.
- Author
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Greppi C, Laursen WJ, Budelli G, Chang EC, Daniels AM, van Giesen L, Smidler AL, Catteruccia F, and Garrity PA
- Subjects
- Animals, Anopheles genetics, Blood, Female, Mice, Mutation, Receptors, Ionotropic Glutamate genetics, Anopheles physiology, Body Temperature, Evolution, Molecular, Host-Seeking Behavior physiology, Hot Temperature, Receptors, Ionotropic Glutamate physiology, Thermoreceptors physiology
- Abstract
Mosquitoes transmit pathogens that kill >700,000 people annually. These insects use body heat to locate and feed on warm-blooded hosts, but the molecular basis of such behavior is unknown. Here, we identify ionotropic receptor IR21a, a receptor conserved throughout insects, as a key mediator of heat seeking in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae Although Ir21a mediates heat avoidance in Drosophila , we find it drives heat seeking and heat-stimulated blood feeding in Anopheles At a cellular level, Ir21a is essential for the detection of cooling, suggesting that during evolution mosquito heat seeking relied on cooling-mediated repulsion. Our data indicate that the evolution of blood feeding in Anopheles involves repurposing an ancestral thermoreceptor from non-blood-feeding Diptera., (Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works.)
- Published
- 2020
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