Anopheles gambiae, malaria vector

Fox A. N., Pitts R. J. and Zwiebel L. J. (2002) A cluster of candidate odorant receptors from the malaria vector mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. Chem. Senses 27, 453 459. 

Grossman G. L., Rafferty C. S., Clayton J. R., Stevens T. K., Mukabayire O. and Benedicte M. Q. (2001) Germline transformation of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, with the piggyBac transposable element. Insect Molecular Biology 10, 597-604. 

Area B., Lombardo F, Lanfrancotti A., Spanos L., Veneri M., Louis C. and Coluzzi M. (2002) A cluster of four D7-related genes is expressed in the salivary glands of the African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Insect Mol. Biol. 11, 47-55. 

Merrill C. E., Riesgo-Escovar J. R., Pitts R. J., Kafatos F. C., Carlson J. R. and Zwiebel L. J. (2002) Visual arrestins in olfactory pathways of Drosophila and the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99, 1633-1638. Moore P. A. (1994) A model of the role of adaptation and disadaptation in olfactory receptor neurons implications for the coding of temporal and intensity patterns in odor signals. Chem. Senses 19, 71-86. 

Vizioli, J., Richman, A.M., Uttenweiler-Joseph, S., Blass, C., and Bulet, P. (2001) The defensin of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae antimicrobial activities and expression in adult mosquitoes. Insect Biochem. Mol. Biol. 31, 241-248. 

Caputo, B., Dani, F. R Home, G. L Petrarca, V., Turillazzi, S., Coluzzi, M., Priestman, A. A. and della Torre, A. (2005). Identification and composition of cuticular hydrocarbons of the major Afrotropical malaria vector Anopheles gambiae s.s. (Diptera Culicidae) analysis of sexual dimorphism and age-related changes. 

Chilaka N, Perkins E, Tripet F (2012) Visual and olfactory associative learning in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto. Malar J 11 27... 

Ranson, H., Rossitter, L., Ortelli, F., Jensen, B., Wang, X., Roth, C.W., Collins, F., and Hemingway, ]., Identification of a novel class of insect glutathione S-transferases involved in resistance to DDT in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae, Biochem. ]., 359, 295,2001. 

Lowe G et al (1989) Adenylate cyclase mediates olfactory transduction for a wide variety of odorants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86 5641-5645 Lu T et al (2007) Odor coding in the maxillary palp of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae. CurrBiol 17 1533-1544... 

Malaria is a serious disease whose progression may lead to death. Its symptoms of high fever, chills, weakened joints, and flu-like illness are however well recognised by people in malaria endemic areas such as Kenya. Illness and death from malaria are largely preventable. Malaria is caused by Plasmodium parasites which are transmitted by mosquito vector. The most common parasite in Kenya, which is also the most virulent, is Plasmodium falciparum-, the others are P. vivax, P. ovale and P. malariae. The main mosquito vector in Africa and which, unfortunately, is also the most efficient is Anopheles gambiae. 

The extracts also showed useful effects at lower concentrations. It was observed that 20-40% of the larvae treated with the low concentration of the extract successfully pupated but often died before emerging into adults. This is no disadvantage for malaria control programmes since it is the adult Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes that are the prime vectors of the disease. 

Impoinvil D E, Kongere J O, Foster W A, et al. (2004). Feeding and survival of the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae on plants growing in Kenya. Med. Vet. Entomol. 18 108-115. 

Female Anopheles gambiae at a blood meal (their male counterparts feed on plant nectar). Besides Anopheles funestus, this malaria vector belongs to the most prominent in Afrika. There are around 460 anopheline species. Many of them feed on blood from animals (zoophilic), e.g. birds, mice and cattle, some 30-40 of them (anthropophilic) prefer however human blood and thereby transfer malaria. 

Stevenson BJ, Bibby J, Pignatelli P, Muangnoicha-roen S, O neill PM, Lian LY, MOller P, Nikou D, Steven A, Hemingway J, Sutcliffe MJ, Paine MJ (2011) Cytochrome P450 6M2 from the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae metabolizes pyrethroids sequential metabolism of deltamethrin revealed. Insect Biochem Mol Biol 41 492-502... 

Highly species-selective acetylcholinesterase inhibitors for control of Anopheles gambiae, the mosquito vector of malaria... 

Since most of the studies have been carried out on Aedes and Culex mosquitoes, it is interesting that a-terthienyl has also been tested as a potential larvicidal agent against a malaria vector with fourth-instar Anopheles gambiae in Tanzania (4). Little information on the experimental conditions was provided, but the activity of the chemical was found to be somewhat higher than that recorded with Aedes mosquitoes in Canada (3). These results were believed to compare favorably with those obtained with synthetic pyrethrins. 

Kwon, H. W., Lu, T, Rutzler, M., and Zwiebel, L. J. Olfactory responses in a gustatory organ of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles gambiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103,13526-13531 (2006). 

J. C. Beier. Frequent blood-feeding and restrictive sugar-feeding behavior enhance the malaria vector potential of Anopheles gambiae s.l. and A. funestus (Diptera Culicidae) in western Kenya. J Med Entomol, 33, 613, 1996. 

J. C. Koella et al. The malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum increases the frequency of multiple feeding of its vector. Anopheles gambiae. Proc Biol Sci 265, 763,1998. 

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