Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Cell. 2013 Dec 5;155(6):1365-79. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2013.11.013.
Female mosquitoes that transmit deadly diseases locate human hosts by detecting exhaled CO2 and skin odor. The identities of olfactory neurons and receptors required for attraction to skin odor remain a mystery. Here, we show that the CO2-sensitive olfactory neuron is also a sensitive detector of human skin odorants in both Aedes aegypti and Anopheles gambiae. We demonstrate that activity of this neuron is important for attraction to skin odor, establishing it as a key target for intervention. We screen ~0.5 million compounds in silico and identify several CO2 receptor ligands, including an antagonist that reduces attraction to skin and an agonist that lures mosquitoes to traps as effectively as CO2. Analysis of the CO2 receptor ligand space provides a foundation for understanding mosquito host-seeking behavior and identifies odors that are potentially safe, pleasant, and affordable for use in a new generation of mosquito control strategies worldwide.
雌性蚊子通过探测呼出的二氧化碳和皮肤气味来定位人类宿主。吸引皮肤气味所需的嗅觉神经元和受体的身份仍然是个谜。在这里，我们表明，CO2 敏感的嗅觉神经元也是埃及伊蚊和冈比亚按蚊对人体气味的敏感探测器。我们证明，该神经元的活性对于吸引皮肤气味很重要，这使其成为干预的关键目标。我们在计算机上筛选了约 50 万种化合物，并鉴定出几种 CO2 受体配体，包括一种能降低对皮肤气味吸引力的拮抗剂和一种能像 CO2 一样有效地引诱蚊子进入陷阱的激动剂。对 CO2 受体配体空间的分析为理解蚊子的宿主寻找行为提供了基础，并确定了一些潜在安全、宜人且价格合理的气味，可用于新一代全球蚊子控制策略。
