Acoustic mating in malaria mosquitoes: From signalling logic to vector control

疟疾蚊子的声学交配：从信号逻辑到病媒控制

• 批准号: BB/V007866/1
• 负责人: Joerg Albert
• 金额: $ 64.58万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FV007866%2F1
• 关键词: Acoustic; mating; malaria; mosquitoes; signalling

Humans have been combatting mosquito-transmitted diseases for as long as records exist. Historic examples include the large marsh drainage schemes used by the Romans to combat fever outbreaks or the writings of the Greek playwright/historian Herodotus (484-425 B.C.) who reports on the measures ancient Egyptians took to avoid mosquito bites. Today, millions of people are forced to sleep under insecticide impregnated bed nets to shield themselves from the potentially deadly bite of the malaria mosquito Anopheles. Surfaces within or nearby human housing, upon which mosquitoes have been observed to rest are routinely sprayed with long-lasting insecticides. The most effective control measures have emerged from a better understanding of the ecology and behaviour of the mosquito disease vectors themselves. But efficacy can lead to complacency in times of low disease transmission or it can simply expire due to the evolution of insecticide resistant mosquito populations, currently spreading throughout the world. Also changes in mosquito behavior, e.g. increasing occurrences of outdoor biting, threaten current disease control measures. Novel strategies are required, especially as the ongoing climate change is about to further exacerbate the global mosquito threat. Disease is transmitted by female mosquitoes only, as only females require a blood-meal for reproduction. As a result, male mosquitoes have remained under-researched and their potential as targets for novel control strategies has remained underexploited. Male mating swarms are a key component of mosquito reproduction. Each dusk, male mosquitoes aggregate to attract female mating partners. In the malaria mosquito Anopheles, these swarms can be formed by 1,000s of males. Within the swarm, females are identified acoustically by their different flight tones. In most mosquitoes, males produce a higher flight tone than females (~800Hz males vs ~550Hz female at 28 degrees Celsius for Anopheles coluzzii). Flight tones produced by females (and males) also depend on the external temperature but it is unknown if the males' preferences similarly change with temperature. Also, males appear to modulate their own flight tones in response to a female tone suggesting that this is a two-way communication, yet the respective details are unclear.Further complexity is added by the male's own flight tone, which is produced closely behind his antennal ears. This means the female flight tone must either compete against, or cooperate with, the male's flight tone in order to be heard. It seems that mosquito evolution has favoured the cooperative approach: Within their ears, the two tones interact and produce predictable 'distortion products' (DPs). At specific tone intervals, DPs can actually be more audible than the original tones. Our project proposes a systematic analysis of the signals (flight tones) and the receivers (antennal ears) of this communication system in the malaria mosquito Anopheles coluzzii. We will explore how temperature affects flight tone frequency by performing audio recordings of swarming males and females under strictly controlled environmental conditions. At the same time we will study the sensitivity of their antennal ears under the same environmental conditions. To this end, we will use state-of-the art biomechanical and electrophysiological recordings and we will finally verify our findings in specifically designed behavioural experiments. In a first step towards novel vector control tools, the results from this project will be used to directly inform the design of novel acoustic lures for male Anopheline mosquitoes. In a follow-up step, we will then generalize our findings to make them applicable to other mosquito vector species. Acoustic lures can be used to reduce mosquito populations (catch and kill) around human habitation or they can be incorporated into population surveillance programs to inform other vector control programs.

只要有记录，人类就一直在与蚊子传播的疾病作斗争。历史上的例子包括罗马人用来对抗发烧爆发的大型沼泽排水计划或希腊剧作家/历史学家希罗多德（公元前484-425）的著作。他报道了古埃及人避免蚊虫叮咬的措施。今天，数以百万计的人被迫睡在杀虫剂浸渍的蚊帐中，以保护自己免受疟疾蚊子按蚊的致命叮咬。在人类住房内或附近的表面，已观察到蚊子栖息的地方，通常喷洒长效杀虫剂。最有效的控制措施来自于对蚊子病媒本身的生态和行为的更好理解。但是，在疾病传播率较低的时候，有效性可能会导致自满，或者由于目前在世界各地蔓延的抗药性蚊子种群的进化，它可能会过期。此外，蚊子行为的变化，例如户外叮咬的发生率增加，威胁到目前的疾病控制措施。需要新的策略，特别是在持续的气候变化即将进一步加剧全球蚊子威胁的情况下。疾病只通过雌性蚊子传播，因为只有雌性蚊子才需要吸血来繁殖。因此，对雄蚊的研究仍然不足，它们作为新的控制策略目标的潜力仍然没有得到充分利用。雄性交配群是蚊子繁殖的关键组成部分。每个黄昏，雄性蚊子聚集在一起吸引雌性交配伴侣。在疟蚊按蚊中，这些群体可以由1,000只雄性组成。在蜂群中，雌性通过不同的飞行音调进行听觉识别。在大多数蚊子中，雄性蚊子产生的飞行音调高于雌性蚊子（在28摄氏度下，科氏按蚊的雄性频率约为800 Hz，雌性频率约为550 Hz）。雌性（和雄性）产生的飞行音调也取决于外部温度，但不知道雄性的偏好是否也会随着温度的变化而变化。此外，雄性似乎调整自己的飞行音调，以回应雌性音调，这表明这是一个双向的沟通，但各自的细节还不清楚。进一步的复杂性增加了雄性自己的飞行音调，这是产生在他的触角耳朵后面。这意味着雌性的飞行音调必须与雄性的飞行音调竞争或合作才能被听到。蚊子的进化似乎更倾向于合作的方式：在它们的耳朵里，两种音调相互作用，产生可预测的“失真产物”（DP）。在特定的音调间隔，DP实际上可以比原始音调更容易听到。我们的项目提出了一个系统的分析信号（飞行音）和接收器（触角的耳朵），这个通信系统在疟疾蚊子Anopheles coluzzii。我们将通过在严格控制的环境条件下对成群的雄性和雌性进行录音来探索温度如何影响飞行音调频率。同时研究在相同的环境条件下它们触角的灵敏度。为此，我们将使用最先进的生物力学和电生理记录，并最终在专门设计的行为实验中验证我们的发现。作为开发新型病媒控制工具的第一步，该项目的结果将用于直接为雄性按蚊新型声学诱饵的设计提供信息。在后续步骤中，我们将推广我们的研究结果，使其适用于其他蚊子媒介物种。声音诱饵可用于减少人类居住地周围的蚊子数量（捕获和杀死），或者它们可以被纳入人口监测计划，以通知其他病媒控制计划。

项目成果

Mosquito Phonotaxis Assay.

蚊子趋声测定。

• DOI: 10.1101/pdb.prot108012
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Cold Spring Harbor protocols
• 作者: Georgiades M

Electrophysiological Measurements of Compound Action Potential Responses from the Antennal Nerve in Response to Stimulation.

触神经响应刺激的复合动作电位反应的电生理学测量。

• DOI: 10.1101/pdb.prot108010
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Cold Spring Harbor protocols
• 作者: Su MP

Acoustic Physiology in Mosquitoes

蚊子的声学生理学

• DOI: 10.1101/pdb.top107685
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Cold Spring Harbor Protocols
• 作者: Su M

Recording and Extraction of Mosquito Flight Tones.

蚊子飞行音的记录和提取。

• DOI: 10.1101/pdb.prot108011
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Cold Spring Harbor protocols
• 作者: Georgiades M

A novel beta-adrenergic like octopamine receptor modulates the audition of malaria mosquitoes and serves as insecticide target

• DOI: 10.1101/2022.08.02.502538
• 发表时间: 2022-08
• 期刊: bioRxiv
• 作者: M. Georgiades;CA Alampounti;J. Somers;M. Su;D. Ellis;J. Bagi;W. Ntabaliba;S. Moore;JT Albert;M. Andrés