In the middle of the swarm: neuromodulation of the auditory function in malaria mosquitoes

疟疾蚊子成群交配。它们用触角的耳朵通过飞行的音调来检测交配伙伴。由于蚊群嘈杂，蚊子飞行的音调微弱，蚊子的听觉器官高度敏感和复杂。几年前，我们发现蚊子的耳朵受到大脑释放的神经递质组成的复杂神经调节网络的支配，这被称为传出系统。这个系统是独一无二的，因为蚊子是唯一一种描述了听觉传出活动的昆虫。由于蚊子的听觉对于蚊子的繁殖是必要的，我们假设扰乱传出系统可能是控制蚊子的一个创新目标。在最初的团契期间，我们重点研究了三种神经递质中的两种，章鱼胺和5-羟色胺，以分析它们在群体环境中的听觉作用以及对蚊子交配的影响。对于第二个研究金阶段，我们希望在这些成果的基础上，更好地了解潜在的基本生物学机制，并探索对疟疾控制的影响。我们还将研究抑制性神经递质GABA的听觉作用，它广泛地支配听神经。我们的目标是全面了解调节蚊子听觉和成群行为的单个神经递质的作用，以及该系统的紧急特性。我们还将探索特定的工具来扰乱蚊子的试听和成群行为，并模拟疟疾传播的影响。

Malaria mosquitoes mate in swarms. They use their antennal ears to detect the mating partners through their flight tones. Because the swarm is noisy, and the mosquito flight tones faint, mosquito auditory organs are highly sensitive and complex. We discovered a few years ago that the mosquito ear is innervated by a complex neuromodulatory network of neurotransmitters that are released from the brain, what is called an efferent system. This system is unique as mosquitoes are the only insect where auditory efferent activity has been described. Because mosquito hearing is necessary for mosquito reproduction, we hypothesize that disrupting the efferent system could be an innovative target for mosquito control. In the initial fellowship period, we focused on studying two of there neurotransmitters, octopamine and serotonin, to analyse their auditory roles in the swarm context and the implications for mosquito mating. For the second fellowship period, we would like to build on these results and provide a better understanding of the underlying fundamental biology mechanisms and explore implications for malaria control. We will also study the auditory role of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which extensively innervates the auditory nerve. We aim at providing a comprehensive understanding of the role of individual neurotransmitters modulating mosquito audition and swarming behaviour and of the emergent properties of the system. We will also explore specific tools to disrupt mosquito audition and swarming behaviour and model the effects on malaria transmission.