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- Lees, Rosemary Susan, et al.
(author)
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Review : Improving our knowledge of male mosquito biology in relation to genetic control programmes
- 2014
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In: Acta Tropica. - : Elsevier BV. - 0001-706X .- 1873-6254. ; 132, s. S2-S11
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Research review (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The enormous burden placed on populations worldwide by mosquito-borne diseases, most notably malaria and dengue, is currently being tackled by the use of insecticides sprayed in residences or applied to bednets, and in the case of dengue vectors through reduction of larval breeding sites or larviciding with insecticides thereof. However, these methods are under threat from, amongst other issues, the development of insecticide resistance and the practical difficulty of maintaining long-term community-wide efforts. The sterile insect technique (SIT), whose success hinges on having a good understanding of the biology and behaviour of the male mosquito, is an additional weapon in the limited arsenal against mosquito vectors. The successful production and release of sterile males, which is the mechanism of population suppression by SIT, relies on the release of mass-reared sterile males able to confer sterility in the target population by mating with wild females. A five year Joint FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Project brought together researchers from around the world to investigate the pre-mating conditions of male mosquitoes (physiology and behaviour, resource acquisition and allocation, and dispersal), the mosquito mating systems and the contribution of molecular or chemical approaches to the understanding of male mosquito mating behaviour. A summary of the existing knowledge and the main novel findings of this group is reviewed here, and further presented in the reviews and research articles that form this Acta Tropica special issue.
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| 2. |
- Lindh, Jenny M., et al.
(author)
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Re-introducing bacteria in mosquitoes - A method for determination of mosquito feeding preferences based on coloured sugar solutions
- 2006
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In: Acta Tropica. - : Elsevier BV. - 0001-706X .- 1873-6254. ; 99:2-3, s. 173-183
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In this study, sugar-feeding was investigated as a possible means of re-introducing bacteria into mosquito midguts with the aim of identifying bacteria that are suitable for creating paratransgenic mosquitoes. In a paratransgenic approach, bacteria are utilised to deliver effector molecules capable of inhibiting pathogen development in the midgut of the vector. To determine if mosquitoes discriminate between sterile sugar solutions and sugar solutions with bacteria, a method for screening mosquito feeding preferences was developed. This method was tested for Aedes aegypti, Anopheles arabiensis and An. gambiae s.s. mosquitoes and is based on a dual-choice test of solutions labelled with food dyes. Three different tests (dye/colour detection, sugar detection and sugar-concentration detection) were performed to evaluate the method, after which bacteria previously isolated from mosquitoes were used in the experiments. It was shown that mosquitoes do not discriminate between sugar solutions with or without these bacteria indicating that sugar-feeding is a possible means to introduce bacteria into mosquitoes. Furthermore, two different setups of the method were used, enabling us to differentiate between tactile/taste and olfactory responses. The method described in this paper is easy to use, cost-effective and allows broad screening of mosquito sugar-feeding preferences.
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