Summer evenings often rhyme with mosquitoes. Despite all precautions, these insects always seem to find a way to bite us. To better understand this unpleasant phenomenon, scientists have discovered why these insects can detect humans so well.
A study published in the scientific journal Cell explains that their olfactory system is more complex than that of other animals. In addition to detecting body heat, they have receptors on their antennae. Your brain then processes these sensations in particular ways.
Unique neurons compared to other animals.
“We found a real difference in the way mosquitoes encode the odors they encounter, compared to what we knew about other animals,” says Meg Younger, an assistant professor of biology at Boston University and one of the study’s researchers, with the British newspaper. The Guardian.
“We thought that mosquitoes followed the core principle of smell: only one type of receptor is expressed on each neuron. Instead, we observed that different receptors respond to different odors on the same neuron,” he continues.
This specificity allows these insects to continue perceiving odors, even losing certain receptors. Researchers at the Rockefeller University in New York, for example, had discovered that mosquitoes could still smell humans, despite the modification of their genome.
Towards new disease control tools?
This research on the brain and olfactory system of mosquitoes helps to better understand how to better protect yourself from their bites. More than just a nuisance, this family of insects transmits serious diseases, such as dengue or malaria, in various regions of the world. Tiger mosquitoes, vectors of the Zika and Chikungunya viruses, are specially monitored each year.
Dr. Marta Andrés Miguel, from University College London, judged with the guardian that the results of this new study are a “remarkable discovery, not only from the biological point of view, but also in the fight against disease”. Because behind this new knowledge lies a hope: to develop new types of mosquito traps or repellents, and limit the progression of infections.
Source: BFM TV
