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Mosquitoes do not Like Bitter.
Lazzari, Claudio R; Ortega-Insaurralde, Isabel; Esnault, Jérémy; Costa, Eloïse; Crespo, José E; Barrozo, Romina B.
Affiliation
  • Lazzari CR; Institut de Recherche Sur La Biologie de L'Insecte, UMR CNRS 7261 - Université de Tours, Tours, France. claudio.lazzari@univ-tours.fr.
  • Ortega-Insaurralde I; Laboratorio de Neuroetología de Insectos, ETI2, Instituto Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada, IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Departamento Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Esnault J; Institut de Recherche Sur La Biologie de L'Insecte, UMR CNRS 7261 - Université de Tours, Tours, France.
  • Costa E; Institut de Recherche Sur La Biologie de L'Insecte, UMR CNRS 7261 - Université de Tours, Tours, France.
  • Crespo JE; Laboratorio de Entomología Experimental-Grupo de Investigación en Ecofisiología de Parasitoides y Otros Insectos (GIEP), Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Barrozo RB; Laboratorio de Neuroetología de Insectos, ETI2, Instituto Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada, IBBEA, CONICET-UBA, Departamento Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental, Facultad Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina. rbarrozo@bg.fcen.uba.ar.
J Chem Ecol ; 50(3-4): 143-151, 2024 Apr.
Article in En | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38366062
ABSTRACT
Chemical repellents play a crucial role in personal protection, serving as essential elements in reducing the transmission of vector-borne diseases. A biorational perspective that extends beyond the olfactory system as the classical target may be a promising direction to move. The taste system provides reliable information regarding food quality, helping animals to discriminate between nutritious and potentially harmful food sources, often associated with a bitter taste. Understanding how bitter compounds affect feeding in blood-sucking insects could unveil novel molecules with the potential to reduce biting and feeding. Here, we investigated the impact of two naturally occurring bitter compounds, caffeine and quinine, on the feeding decisions in female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes at two distinctive phases (1) when the mosquito explores the biting substrate using external taste sensors and (2) when the mosquito takes a sip of food and tastes it using internal taste receptors. We assessed the aversiveness of bitter compounds through both an artificial feeding condition (artificial feeder test) and a real host (arm-in-cage test). Our findings revealed different sensitivities in the external and internal sensory pathways responsible for detecting bitter taste in Ae. aegypti. Internal detectors exhibited responsiveness to lower doses compared to the external sensors. Quinine exerted a more pronounced negative impact on biting and feeding activity than caffeine. The implications of our findings are discussed in the context of mosquito food recognition and the potential practical implications for personal protection.
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Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Quinine / Taste / Caffeine / Aedes / Feeding Behavior Limits: Animals Language: En Journal: J Chem Ecol Year: 2024 Document type: Article Affiliation country:

Full text: 1 Collection: 01-internacional Database: MEDLINE Main subject: Quinine / Taste / Caffeine / Aedes / Feeding Behavior Limits: Animals Language: En Journal: J Chem Ecol Year: 2024 Document type: Article Affiliation country: