Mosquitoes’ Taste Buds
WouterDespite being one of the world’s deadliest animals, mosquitoes are also highly sensitive to taste. They detect a variety of compounds that could affect their behavior. They may use chemical information from their hosts to determine whether they should feed or not.
Mosquitoes are capable of sensing a variety of taste compounds, including blood, sugar, and salt. They also detect odorants. These receptors connect to specific parts of the mosquito’s brain. However, scientists are still not sure how mosquitoes taste blood.
One of the mouthparts of a mosquito, called the labrum, is shaped like a needle. Female mosquitoes use this mouthpart to pierce the skin and drink blood. In fact, a female’s labrum is sharper than the labrum of non-blood-feeding mosquitoes.
Mosquitoes also have elaborate taste organs on their legs. These organs are called taste sensilla. These organs contain up to three taste neurons and up to four taste neurons. Some of the taste neurons are sexually dimorphic. This means that they respond differently to sexually dimorphic compounds.
Some researchers have attempted to manipulate the taste circuits of mosquitoes in a chemical or genetic way. Some of these attempts failed. But a study by Leslie Vosshall and her team has found a way to get mosquitoes to activate their taste neurons.
The study is published in the journal Neuron. It provides new insight into mosquito taste and may lead to new methods for controlling mosquitoes.
Vosshall’s team used genetically modified mosquitoes that were equipped with fluorescent tags to activate their taste neurons. Researchers fed the mosquitoes glucose, salt, and blood. Depending on the particular flavor, one or more of the neuron’s fluorescent tags lit up.
