Mosquito Odor Space Quantification Underpins Innovation of Tools for Odor-based control

Finding people to bite is essential for mosquitoes to transmit disease. However, many behaviours affect how dangerous females are as vectors. There is a basic need to understand the odour space of vectors. Understanding how that odour space differs among sympatric, closely related species, will clarify the evolution of odour space. Also, it will provide practical knowledge to predict future shifts in vector odour space of and identify targets for vector control.

The purpose of this study is to describe the genetic mechanism linking odorant receptors with the innate odour-driven preferences displayed by sibling malaria mosquito species. We aim to describe the natural variation in odour space among three sibling species, in order to characterise the molecular mechanisms underpinning resource preference. We will deorphanize the odorant receptors of malaria mosquitoes with odorants in their natural odour space and investigate the genotypic and phenotypic differences across species. Minor changes in odorant receptor structure can alter the functional identity. To investigate this, we will systematically mutate select Ors and assess function. Also, we will assess the effect of dynamic gene expression on odour space.

This project is significant because it builds on a strong foundation of extant, but disparate, behaviour, physiology and chemistry, which, when completed and combined, has the potential to unravel the molecular genetic basis of the evolution of malaria mosquito odour space.