Mosquitoes are dangerous disease vectors that transmit global infectious disease. Aedes albopictus (Ae. albopictus), also known as the Asian tiger mosquito, is a highly adaptive and aggressive disease vector that has rapidly invaded every continent on earth except Antarctica. Mosquitoes use chemical cues to guide behaviors such as finding a host, biting, and egg-laying. Improved understanding of mosquito chemoreception may greatly facilitate the development of new means of vector control. Efforts have been made to understand olfaction in mosquitoes, but remarkably little is known about their sense of taste. In particular, virtually nothing is known about taste in Ae. albopictus, a disease vector now in the US whose global range is fast growing because it outcompetes other species and because of climate change. Here I propose a multidisciplinary approach using electrophysiology, molecular genetics, and behavioral analysis to investigate the mechanisms of taste in Ae. albopictus. I will elucidate basic principles of taste coding in this species, and I will systematically screen for taste compounds that evoke strong electrophysiological and behavioral responses. I will map the expression of taste receptors to taste organs of males and females and describe the dependence of their expression on feeding status. I will functionally test the genetic basis of taste reception by generating transgenic CRISPR mutant mosquitoes. I hypothesize that Ae. albopictus uses taste cues to guide critical behaviors such as feeding and oviposition. Some of these tastants may serve as cues in the identification of hosts. This study may also identify chemosensory cues that are useful in controlling Ae. albopictus and the diseases it transmits.
This proposal addresses a topic that is severely understudied, mosquito taste, in a species that is also understudied, Aedes albopictus, despite its being one of the most dangerous mosquito species. Here, I propose a multidisciplinary approach to investigate how Aedes albopictus senses tastants. This study is designed to identify chemical cues that can be used in the control of these mosquitoes and the diseases that they transmit including dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and Chikungunya.
