title: Review: Improving our knowledge of male mosquito biology in relation to genetic control programmes.
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.
authors.affiliation: Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: louis-clement.gouagna@ird.fr.
authors.forename: Rosemary Susan
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Lees
authors.affiliation: In2Care BV, Costerweg 5, 6702 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: bart@in2care.org.
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Knols
authors.affiliation: Centro Agricoltura Ambiente, «G. Nicoli», Via Argini Nord 3351, 40014 Crevalcore, Italy. Electronic address: rbellini@caa.it.
authors.forename: Romeo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bellini
authors.affiliation: Polo d'Innovazione Genomica, Genetica e Biologia S.C.a.R.L., Edificio D, 4̂ Piano Polo Unico di Medicina Santa Maria della Misericordia, Loc. S. Andrea delle Fratte, 06132 Perugia, Italy. Electronic address: mqbenedict@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Mark Q
authors.initials: MQ
authors.lastname: Benedict
authors.affiliation: Vector Biology and Control Division, Ministry of Health and Quality of Life, F6, Ex-Government Quarters, Botanical Garden Street, Curepipe, Mauritius. Electronic address: abheecarry.vbcd@mail.gov.mu.
authors.forename: Ambicadutt
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bheecarry
authors.affiliation: Institut Louis Malarde, (ILM), Laboratoire de recherche en entomologie médicale, rue des Poilus Tahitiens, B.P. 30, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. Electronic address: hbossin@ilm.pf.
authors.forename: Hervé Christophe
authors.initials: HC
authors.lastname: Bossin
authors.affiliation: University of the West Indies, Department of Life Sciences, St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. Electronic address: dave.chadee@sta.uwi.edu.
authors.forename: Dave D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Chadee
authors.affiliation: DBL Institute for Health Research and Development, 1 D Jaergersborg Alle, 2920 Charlottenlund, Denmark. Electronic address: jdcharlwood@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Jacques
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Charlwood
authors.affiliation: Centre Muraz Organisation de coopération et de coordination pour la lutte contre les grandes endémies, 01 B.P. 153, Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso. Electronic address: dabire_roch@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Roch K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Dabiré
authors.affiliation: Institut Régional de Santé Publique (LRSP), Université d'Abomey-Calavi (UAC), BP.384 Ouidah & 01 BP 918, Cotonou, Benin. Electronic address: ldjogbenou22002@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Djogbenou
authors.affiliation: Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC), Biotechnology and Nuclear Agriculture Research Institute, Legon, PO Box 80, Accra, Ghana. Electronic address: egyiryawson@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Egyir-Yawson
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kourí, Mariano 13, Apartado 601, Havana, Cuba. Electronic address: rene@ipk.sld.cu.
authors.forename: René
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gato
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment (IRD), UMR 5290/224 MIVEGEC (Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Genetique, Evolution et Controle), Plateforme Technologique du Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les maladies, Emergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), 2, rue Maxime Riviere, 97 490 Sainte Clotilde, Ile de la Réunion, France. Electronic address: louis-clement.gouagna@ird.fr.
authors.forename: Louis Clément
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Gouagna
authors.affiliation: Epidemiology Department, Tropical Medicine Research Institute, Khartoum PO Box 1304, Sudan. Electronic address: moawia65@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mo'awia Mukhtar
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Hassan
authors.affiliation: Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), Atomic Energy Research Establishment (AERE); Institute of Food and Radiation Biology, Ganakbari, Savar, PO Box 3787, Dhaka 1344, Bangladesh. Electronic address: ibd@aitlbd.net.
authors.forename: Shakil Ahmed
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Khan
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Communicate Diseases (NICD), National Health Laboratory Service, Sandringham, Private Bag X4, 2131 Johannesburg, South Africa; The Wits Research Institute for Malaria, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Electronic address: lizettek@nicd.ac.za.
authors.forename: Lizette L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Koekemoer
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment (IRD), UMR 5290/224 MIVEGEC (Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Genetique, Evolution et Controle), Plateforme Technologique du Centre de Recherche et de Veille sur les maladies, Emergentes dans l'Océan Indien (CRVOI), 2, rue Maxime Riviere, 97 490 Sainte Clotilde, Ile de la Réunion, France. Electronic address: guy.lemperiere@ird.fr.
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lemperiere
authors.affiliation: US Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Hilo, HI, USA. Electronic address: nicholas.manoukis@ars.usda.gov.
authors.forename: Nicholas C
authors.initials: NC
authors.lastname: Manoukis
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Teknikringen 36, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address: raimis@kth.se.
authors.forename: Raimondas
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mozuraitis
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University, Department of Biological Sciences, 465 21st Ave. S., Nashville, TN 37232, USA. Electronic address: j.pitts@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: R Jason
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Pitts
authors.affiliation: Institut de Recherche pour le Dévelopment (IRD), UMR 5290/224 MIVEGEC (Maladies Infectieuses et Vecteurs: Ecologie, Genetique, Evolution et Controle), 911 Ave Agropolis, BP 64501, 34 394 Montpellier, France. Electronic address: frederic.simard@ird.fr.
authors.forename: Frederic
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Simard
authors.affiliation: Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture, FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratories, International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria. Electronic address: j.gilles@iaea.org.
authors.forename: Jeremie R L
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Gilles
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001686:Biological Phenomena; D009033:Culicidae / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D009032:Mosquito Control / Q000379:methods*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Artificial rearing; Courtship behaviour; Mating biology; Mosquito; Olfactory responses; Sterile insect technique (SIT)