“But why me?” You may have already asked yourself this question one fine summer morning when you noticed that your body was covered in mosquito bites, while your loved ones seemed to have been spared. If so, we have good news: scientists may have found the origins of this “favoritism”, and their discoveries could make it possible to fight against it.
A team of researchers from the American Johns Hopkins Institute have indeed succeeded in “to map” receptors on insect nerve cells. These receptors would be able to refine the ability of mosquitoes to detect odors particularly “welcoming” on our skin, nous apprends Interesting Engineering.
“Mosquitoes use many senses to identify their potential hosts”says Christopher Potter, professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. While research has shown, for example, that odorous receptors allow mosquitoes to tell the difference between animals and humans, Christopher Potter and his team wanted to focus on so-called ionotropic receptors.
Hope against disease
Scientists have thus realized that the ionotropic receptors present on the antennae of mosquitoes allow them to be “guide” towards one type of human skin rather than another. This choice would also be influenced by the amino acids present in our body, details the team in his study published in the journal Cell Reports on February 10.
These recent discoveries could thus help researchers to develop powerful repellents against mosquitoes. They would, at the same time, protect populations from the many diseases transmitted by these insects, such as malaria or dengue fever. “which affect 700 million people and kill 750,000 each year”, precise Interesting Engineering.
“Understanding the molecular biology of odor detection by mosquitoes is essential, especially for developing new ways to avoid bites and the serious illnesses they can cause”concluded on his side Christopher Potter.