title: A(maize)ing attraction: gravid Anopheles arabiensis are attracted and oviposit in response to maize pollen odours.
abstract: Maize cultivation contributes to the prevalence of malaria mosquitoes and exacerbates malaria transmission in sub-Saharan Africa. The pollen from maize serves as an important larval food source for Anopheles mosquitoes, and females that are able to detect breeding sites where maize pollen is abundant may provide their offspring with selective advantages. Anopheles mosquitoes are hypothesized to locate, discriminate among, and select such sites using olfactory cues, and that synthetic volatile blends can mimic these olfactory-guided behaviours.
  
  
  
  Two-port olfactometer and two-choice oviposition assays were used to assess the attraction and oviposition preference of gravid Anopheles arabiensis to the headspace of the pollen from two maize cultivars (BH-660 and ZM-521). Bioactive compounds were identified using combined gas chromatography and electroantennographic detection from the headspace of the cultivar found to be most attractive (BH-660). Synthetic blends of the volatile compounds were then assessed for attraction and oviposition preference of gravid An. arabiensis, as above.
  
  
  
  Here the collected headspace volatiles from the pollen of two maize cultivars was shown to differentially attract and stimulate oviposition in gravid An. arabiensis. Furthermore, a five-component synthetic maize pollen odour blend was identified, which elicited the full oviposition behavioural repertoire of the gravid mosquitoes.
  
  
  
  The cues identified from maize pollen provide important substrates for the development of novel control measures that modulate gravid female behaviour. Such measures are irrespective of indoor or outdoor feeding and resting patterns, thus providing a much-needed addition to the arsenal of tools that currently target indoor biting mosquitoes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.|Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 102, Sundsvägen 14, 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Betelehem
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wondwosen
authors.affiliation: Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 102, Sundsvägen 14, 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sharon R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.affiliation: Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 102, Sundsvägen 14, 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden.
authors.forename: Göran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Birgersson
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Emiru
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seyoum
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoological Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Habte
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tekie
authors.affiliation: Unit of Chemical Ecology, Department of Plant Protection Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 102, Sundsvägen 14, 230 53, Alnarp, Sweden. rickard.ignell@slu.se.
authors.forename: Rickard
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-4607-5986
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ignell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000852:Anopheles / Q000502:physiology*; D002633:Chemotaxis; D005260:Female; D000072138:Mosquito Vectors / Q000502:physiology*; D009812:Odorants / Q000032:analysis*; D010058:Oviposition; D011058:Pollen / Q000502:physiology; D003313:Zea mays / Q000378:metabolism
keywords: Anopheles arabiensis; Attraction; Gravid mosquitoes; Headspace volatiles; Kairomone; Maize pollen; Olfaction; Oviposition