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| DOI | 10.1126/science.abf7917 |
| Drivers of mosquito mating | |
| Nicholas C. Manoukis | |
| 2021-01-22 | |
| 发表期刊 | Science
 |
| 出版年 | 2021 |
| 英文摘要 | At first glance, the sex lives of mosquitoes may seem an esoteric topic. Yet, elucidating the details of mosquito mating may affect hundreds of millions of human lives each year. Anopheles mosquitoes are the principal vectors of the parasites that cause malaria in Africa, where in 2018, 93% of the world's estimated 228 million cases and 94% of its 405,000 malaria deaths occurred ([ 1 ][1]). On page 411 of this issue, Wang et al. ([ 2 ][2]) link clock gene expression, light, and temperature to the formation of male swarms and mating of Anopheles mosquitoes. They also suggest a role for the desaturase 1 ( desat1 ) gene in the production of the cuticular hydrocarbon (surface chemicals that serve multiple roles for insects) heptacosane, which they found stimulates mating. These findings add to our knowledge of molecular factors and their interaction with the environment that together drive mating behavior in these mosquitoes.
A critical step in the life history of anopheline mosquitoes is the mating swarm ([ 3 ][3]). These are crepuscular airborne aggregations (leks) composed almost entirely of males, numbering from a few individuals to thousands. Females enter these swarms, and coupling occurs within their bounds, with insemination happening in flight or on the ground near the swarm. Females generally mate once in their lives. Factors thought to be involved in swarm formation include basic environmental variables such as light ([ 3 ][3]), but mating might depend on complex behaviors such as speed matching and harmonization of wingbeat frequencies ([ 4 ][4], [ 5 ][5]). The details are important to the mating success of any male Anopheles mosquito.
Male success in mating swarms is relevant to the most technologically advanced and promising interventions to reduce the burden of mosquito-borne diseases—such as those built on gene drive systems ([ 6 ][6]). Gene drive systems are based on the release of organisms whose genomes have been modified or engineered to spread a desired allele or trait (such as resistance to the parasites that cause malaria) through a population. Success will depend on the release of genetically modified males that will be able to mate with wild females. Beyond gene drive strategies, in mosquitoes it is understood that only males can be released as part of any genetic pest control (GPC) program ([ 7 ][7]); females feed on blood to lay eggs, and releasing insects that will feed on humans is widely unacceptable.
The grandparent of all GPC insect control technologies is the sterile insect technique (SIT), which consists of releasing mass-produced, irradiation-sterilized males in sufficient numbers to “flood” the wild male population and thereby compete for wild female insects. This leads to the production of inviable offspring, suppression of the population, and potentially the eradication of the targeted species ([ 8 ][8]). Although this method has been successful—for example, eradicating the screwworm (a serious pest of livestock) from the southern United States, Mexico, and most of Central America—the difference between feasible and successful programs and those that falter rests heavily on the competitiveness of released sterile males in securing wild female mates. “Traditional” SIT has not succeeded against mosquitoes, and the complexities of mating behavior might be a contributing reason.
Wang et al. found in swarming males up-regulation of two clock genes, tim ( timeless ) and per ( period ), that they showed are important to swarming and successful mating. They also measured the effect of two basic environmental factors (temperature and light). Integrating environmental variables into the experiment was the key to determining how gene expression operates in a realistic context and led to major insights, such as finding that photoperiod (the daily duration of light and dark) affects both clock genes and desat1 . Previous studies have tended to focus on one type of factor (environmental, genetic, or molecular), but clearly these separate factors do not operate independently.
A further integrative feature of the study of Wang et al. is that experiments were conducted under semi–field conditions in addition to the laboratory. The cross-disciplinary collaboration that made this possible is an important model for developing our understanding of the whole phenomenon of mating in mosquitoes and for applying the results of experiments to new vector control programs.
Wang et al. open the door a little wider to a future in which mass-produced lines of male mosquitoes are better adapted and more competitive with wild males. Achieving this goal may be as simple and direct as enhancing expression of desat1 to improve the mating success of released males or may result from a more subtle manipulation of swarming behavior through environmental and gene expression factors (for example, optimizing mass rearing or engineering superior swarm competitors). A related possibility is that the swarming ability of the males reared for release might be assessed by means of genetic screen. This may prove critical for determining when to switch out or refresh mass-reared lines, all of which suffer from genetic inbreeding. Enhancing the probability of success of GPCs would be a welcome instance of the integration of molecular and genetic information with physical and environmental factors, delivering on decades of promises in medical entomology ([ 9 ][9]).
By integrating molecular and environmental factors, Wang et al. make a crucial contribution to the growing body of research on mosquito mating, which now spans chemical cues to motion coordination ([ 10 ][10], [ 11 ][11]). Future work should expand on their efforts, particularly by integrating more sophisticated physical variables with gene expression data (for example, oscillating temperature profiles rather than a single fixed overnight temperature for mass rearing). In the end, the more that is known about mosquito mating generally and Anopheles species specifically, the better our ability to intrude in just the right way to reduce disease transmission around the world.
1. [↵][12]World Health Organization (WHO), World malaria report 2019 (WHO, 2019), p. 232; |
| 领域 | 气候变化 ; 资源环境 |
| URL | 查看原文 |
| 引用统计 | |
| 文献类型 | 期刊论文 |
| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.173/C666/handle/2XK7JSWQ/312350 |
| 专题 | 气候变化 资源环境科学 |
| 推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Nicholas C. Manoukis. Drivers of mosquito mating[J]. Science,2021. |
| APA | Nicholas C. Manoukis.(2021).Drivers of mosquito mating.Science. |
| MLA | Nicholas C. Manoukis."Drivers of mosquito mating".Science (2021). |
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