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  • Brief Communication
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Olfaction

Mosquito receptor for human-sweat odorant

Abstract

Female Anopheles mosquitoes, the world's most important vector of Plasmodium falciparum malaria, locate their human hosts primarily through olfactory cues1, but the molecular mechanisms that underlie this recognition are a mystery. Here we show that the Anopheles gambiae protein AgOr1, a female-specific member of a family of putative odorant receptors2,3, responds to a component of human sweat. Compounds designed to activate or block receptors of this type could function as attractants for trapping mosquitoes or as insect repellents in helping to control Anopheles and other insect pests.

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Figure 1: Identification of a mosquito odorant receptor that responds to a component of human sweat by expression in a Drosophila olfactory receptor neuron.

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Correspondence to John R. Carlson.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Hallem, E., Nicole Fox, A., Zwiebel, L. et al. Mosquito receptor for human-sweat odorant. Nature 427, 212–213 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/427212a

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