Fox A N, Pitts R J, Robertson H M, Carlson J R, Zwiebel L J
Department of Biological Sciences, Program in Developmental Biology and Center for Molecular Neuroscience, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001 Dec 4;98(25):14693-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.261432998. Epub 2001 Nov 27.
Olfaction plays a major role in host preference and blood feeding, integral behaviors for disease transmission by the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto (henceforth A. gambiae). We have identified four genes encoding candidate odorant receptors from A. gambiae that are selectively expressed in olfactory organs, contain approximately seven transmembrane domains, and show significant similarity to several putative odorant receptors in Drosophila melanogaster. Furthermore, one of the putative A. gambiae odorant receptors exhibits female-specific antennal expression and is down-regulated 12 h after blood feeding, a period during which substantial reduction in olfactory responses to human odorants has been observed. Taken together, these data suggest these genes encode a family of odorant receptors in A. gambiae, whose further study may aid in the design of novel antimalarial programs.
嗅觉在宿主偏好和血液摄取中起着重要作用,而宿主偏好和血液摄取是冈比亚按蚊(以下简称冈比亚按蚊)这种疟疾传播媒介进行疾病传播的重要行为。我们从冈比亚按蚊中鉴定出了四个编码候选气味受体的基因,这些基因在嗅觉器官中选择性表达,含有大约七个跨膜结构域,并且与黑腹果蝇中的几种假定气味受体具有显著相似性。此外,一种假定的冈比亚按蚊气味受体表现出雌性特异性触角表达,并且在血液摄取后12小时下调,在此期间观察到对人类气味剂的嗅觉反应大幅降低。综上所述,这些数据表明这些基因编码了冈比亚按蚊中的一个气味受体家族,对其进一步研究可能有助于设计新的抗疟方案。