title: Multimodal integration of carbon dioxide and other sensory cues drives mosquito attraction to humans.
abstract: Multiple sensory cues emanating from humans are thought to guide blood-feeding female mosquitoes to a host. To determine the relative contribution of carbon dioxide (CO2) detection to mosquito host-seeking behavior, we mutated the AaegGr3 gene, a subunit of the heteromeric CO2 receptor in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Gr3 mutants lack electrophysiological and behavioral responses to CO2. These mutants also fail to show CO2-evoked responses to heat and lactic acid, a human-derived attractant, suggesting that CO2 can gate responses to other sensory stimuli. Whereas attraction of Gr3 mutants to live humans in a large semi-field environment was only slightly impaired, responses to an animal host were greatly reduced in a spatial-scale-dependent manner. Synergistic integration of heat and odor cues likely drive host-seeking behavior in the absence of CO2 detection. We reveal a networked series of interactions by which multimodal integration of CO2, human odor, and heat orchestrates mosquito attraction to humans.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Conor J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: McMeniman
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Román A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Corfas
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Tropical Medicine and Rehabilitative Sciences, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD 4870, Australia.
authors.forename: Scott A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Ritchie
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Electronic address: leslie.vosshall@rockefeller.edu.
authors.forename: Leslie B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Vosshall
mesh_terms: D000330:Aedes / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D006801:Humans; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000502:physiology; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D009812:Odorants; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D019344:Lactic Acid