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

在群体中间：疟疾蚊子听觉功能的神经调节

• 批准号: MR/Y011732/1
• 负责人: Marta Andrés Miguel
• 金额: $ 75.88万
• 依托单位: University College London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2024 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=MR%2FY011732%2F1
• 关键词: middle; swarm; neuromodulation; auditory; function

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.

疟疾蚊子成群交配。它们用触角耳通过飞行音来检测交配伙伴。由于蚊群嘈杂，蚊子的飞行音微弱，因此蚊子的听觉器官非常敏感和复杂。几年前我们发现，蚊子的耳朵受到大脑释放的复杂神经递质神经调节网络的支配，即所谓的传出系统。该系统是独特的，因为蚊子是唯一被描述为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，因此我们假设破坏传出系统可能是蚊子控制的一个创新目标。在最初的研究期间，我们专注于研究其中两种神经递质：章鱼胺和血清素，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。在第二期研究金期间，我们希望以这些结果为基础，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，它广泛支配听觉神经。我们的目标是全面了解个体神经递质调节蚊子听觉和集群行为的作用以及系统的新兴特性。我们还将探索破坏蚊子听觉和蜂群行为的具体工具，并模拟对疟疾传播的影响。