Mosquitoes perceive their environment combining multimodal cues including vision, hearing, smelling, chemosensation, thermosensation and CO2 sensation. As some female mosquitoes require blood-meal to get the needed energy for oviposition, most research on host-seeking behaviour focuses on a single species with male vs. female differences.
Here we are exploring the evolution of the sensory system in mosquitoes using phylogenomics tools (Devilliers et al., 2024) and molecular biology methods (Devilliers et al., 2024), comparing both bood-feeding vs. non-blood feeding species, and sexes. The overarching goal of this project is to identify sensory modalities and genes involved in mating and host-seeking behaviour.
In this project we particularly focussed on vision evolution, combining phylogenomics, bulk RNA-seq in the eye of Anopheles gambiae, Toxorhynchites brevipalpis and Aedes aegypti, miscroscopy (HCR) and single-cell RNA-seq on the head of Anopheles gambiae and Aedes aegypti.
References
2024
-
Hematophagy generates a convergent genomic signature in mosquitoes and sandflies
Julien Devilliers, Ben Warren, Ezio Rosato, Charalambos P. Kyriacou, and Roberto Feuda
bioRxiv, 2024
Blood-feeding (hematophagy) is widespread across Diptera (true flies), yet the underlying molecular mechanisms remain poorly understood. Using phylogenomics, we show that four gene families associated with neuro-modulation, immune responses, embryonic development, and iron metabolism have undergone independent expansions within mosquitoes and sandflies. Our findings illuminate the underlying genetic basis for blood-feeding adaptations in these important disease vectors.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.
-
Molecular correlates of swarming behaviour in Aedes aegypti males
Julien Devilliers, Hollie Marshall, Ben Warren, Charalambos P. Kyriacou, Luciana O. Araripe, Rafaela V. Bruno, Ezio Rosato, and Roberto Feuda
Biology Letters, 2024
Mosquitoes are the deadliest vectors of diseases. They impose a huge health burden on human populations spreading parasites as disparate as protozoans (malaria), viruses (yellow fever and more) and nematodes (filariasis) that cause life-threatening conditions. In recent years, mating has been proposed as a putative target for population control. Mosquitoes mate mid-air, in swarms initiated by males and triggered by a combination of internal and external stimuli. As the number of females in a swarm is limited, there is intense competition among males, and they ‘retune’ their physiology for this demanding behaviour. There is limited knowledge on the ‘genetic reprogramming’ required to enable swarming. Interestingly, recent evidence indicates that the upregulation of circadian clock genes may be involved in the swarming of malaria mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles. Here, we use whole-head RNA-seq to identify gene expression changes in Aedes aegypti males that are engaged in swarming in a laboratory setting. Our results suggest that in preparation to swarming, males tend to lower some housekeeping functions while increasing remodelling of the cytoskeleton and neuronal connectivity; the transcription of circadian clock genes is unaffected.