Malaria mosquitoes

Many hunters react to their prey s overall scent or some of its components, perhaps the smell of fur or some less complex odor. One of the world s most injurious insects, the African malaria mosquito (Anopheles gambiae), prefers humans to other sources of a blood meal. Oddly, whenever possible the mosquitoes bite people on their feet. This predilection reflects their strong attraction to the mixture of fatty acids that we associate with smelly feet. Humans may find the odor offensive, but these mosquitoes know it as a fragrant guide to blood. The same fatty acids also draw them to another odor that offends some people, the smell of Limburger cheese. 

For over 50 years they have been indispensable except between 1921 and 1942 in places where Paris green was used for controlling malaria mosquitoes. 

Mans, B.J. et al. (2007) The crystal structure of D7r4, a salivary biogenic amine-binding protein from the malaria mosquito anopheles gambiae. J. Biol. Chem., 282 (50), 36626-36633. 

The contributing authors represent considerable expertise for the subject. Larry Zwiebel (Chapter 13) has opened the malaria mosquito A. gambiae to studies of olfactory molecular genetics, with profound implications for human... 

Catteruccia F., Nolan T., Loukeris T. G., Blass C., Savakis C., Kafatos F. C. and Crisanti A. (2000) Stable germline transformation of the malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi. Nature 405, 959-962. 

Vogt R. G. (2002) Odorant binding proteins of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae possible orthologues of the OS-E and OS-F OBPs of Drosophila melanogaster. J. Chem. Ecol. 28, RC29-RC35 (http //www.kluweronline.com/issn/0098-0331)... 

Cabbage Looper Ariz. Malaria Mosquito Nigeria... 

Malaria is a worldwide problem. Even in Britain there are some marshes where the malaria mosquito exists. The extract from the cinchona tree was the only known treatment as early as the seventeenth century. The action of the ingredient, quinine, was not fully understood until about 1820. A synthetic drug was made in 1930 to mimic quinine in its action and so avoid the tedious job of collecting and extracting the natural quinine (Figure 14.1). 

Colorado potato beetle Twospotted spider mite European red mite Malaria mosquitoes Housefly... 

A cockroach, Leucophaea maderae, was found to contain alcohol dehydrogenase in the fat bodies, the functions of which resemble the mammalian liver (504). A malaria mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, has three variants of alcohol dehydrogenase, corresponding to codominant alleles at a single, probably autosomal, locus (505). 

McGinn, Anne Platt. Malaria, Mosquitoes, and DDT The Toxic War against a Global Disease. World Watch (May 1, 2002) 10 17. 

Holt R.A. et al. (2002). The genome sequence of the Malaria Mosquito Anopheles gamhiae. Science 298 129-149. 

The protozoans Plasmodium falciparum, P. vivax or P. ovale cause malaria. Mosquitos transmit the parasites to humans in tropical and subtropical regions. Infections, particularly with P. falciparum may be fatal, so therapy must be initiated rapidly (Table 7.14). 

The volatile oil and extracts have a cytotoxic effect on the larvae of Culex pipiens mosquito and a repellent effect against Aedes aegypti malaria mosquito. Moderate repellent activity was exhibited by fenchone and E-9-octadecenoic acid of the oil. ° ... 

Knols, B.G.J., R. de Jong W. Takken. 1994. Trapping system for testing olfactory responses of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae in a wind tunnel. Med. Vet. Entomol. 8 386-388. 

Although we lack sufficiently detailed information to generalize the location and characteristics of the indigenous gut strains in arthropods, considering their enormous diversity, most insects known to host symbiotic AAB share one common trait they feed on sugar-rich diets such as nectars, phloematic sap, and fruits (e.g., the fruit fly D. melanogaster, the Asian malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi) (Crotti et al. 2010). 

AAB have been shown to colonize insect organs other than the gut. For example, Dong and colleagues (2006) observed that Asaia sp. can cross the insect gut epithelial barrier into the hemolymph. In agreement with this observation, Favia et al. (2007) detected Asaia cells in the salivary glands of the Asian malaria mosquito Anopheles (An.) stephensi). This observation supports the hypothesis that AAB can actively colonize other compartments of the insect body from their point of entry (i.e., insect gut). 

Evidence of a trans-stadial transfer of Asaia from larvae to pupae and from pupae to adults of An. stephensi has also been obtained (Damiani et al. 2008) trans-stadial bacterial transfers in mosquitoes have cmitinued to be a subject of controversy (Lindh et al. 2008 MoU et al. 2001 Pumpuni et al. 1996 Jadin et al. 1%6). Moreover, experiments using molecular tools presented by Damiani et al. (2008) failed to detect Asaia symbionts in the larval breeding water, thus strengthening the belief that symbionts transfer from mie mosquito stage to the next. This type of symbiont transfer was supported by Chouaia and colleagues (2012), who detected Asaia in Asian malaria mosquito An. stephensi) adults whose LI larvae had been inoculated with a strain of Asaia. 

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