Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes
Female mosquitoes display preferences for certain individuals over others, which is determined by differences in volatile chemicals produced by the human body and detected by mosquitoes. Body odour can be controlled genetically but the existence of a genetic basis for differential attraction to inse...
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| Format: | Article |
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Public Library of Science
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34283/ |
| _version_ | 1848794816196902912 |
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| author | Mandela Fernández-Grandon, G. Gezan, Salvador A. Armour, John A.L. Pickett, John A. Logan, James G. |
| author_facet | Mandela Fernández-Grandon, G. Gezan, Salvador A. Armour, John A.L. Pickett, John A. Logan, James G. |
| author_sort | Mandela Fernández-Grandon, G. |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Female mosquitoes display preferences for certain individuals over others, which is determined by differences in volatile chemicals produced by the human body and detected by mosquitoes. Body odour can be controlled genetically but the existence of a genetic basis for differential attraction to insects has never been formally demonstrated. This study investigated heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes by evaluating the response of Aedes aegypti (=Stegomyia aegypti) mosquitoes to odours from the hands of identical and non-identical twins in a dual-choice assay. Volatiles from individuals in an identical twin pair showed a high correlation in attractiveness to mosquitoes, while non-identical twin pairs showed a significantly lower correlation. Overall, there was a strong narrow-sense heritability of 0.62 (SE 0.124) for relative attraction and 0.67 (0.354) for flight activity based on the average of ten measurements. The results demonstrate an underlying genetic component detectable by mosquitoes through olfaction. Understanding the genetic basis for attractiveness could create a more informed approach to repellent development. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:12Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34283 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:12Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-342832020-05-04T17:06:11Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34283/ Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes Mandela Fernández-Grandon, G. Gezan, Salvador A. Armour, John A.L. Pickett, John A. Logan, James G. Female mosquitoes display preferences for certain individuals over others, which is determined by differences in volatile chemicals produced by the human body and detected by mosquitoes. Body odour can be controlled genetically but the existence of a genetic basis for differential attraction to insects has never been formally demonstrated. This study investigated heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes by evaluating the response of Aedes aegypti (=Stegomyia aegypti) mosquitoes to odours from the hands of identical and non-identical twins in a dual-choice assay. Volatiles from individuals in an identical twin pair showed a high correlation in attractiveness to mosquitoes, while non-identical twin pairs showed a significantly lower correlation. Overall, there was a strong narrow-sense heritability of 0.62 (SE 0.124) for relative attraction and 0.67 (0.354) for flight activity based on the average of ten measurements. The results demonstrate an underlying genetic component detectable by mosquitoes through olfaction. Understanding the genetic basis for attractiveness could create a more informed approach to repellent development. Public Library of Science 2015-04-22 Article PeerReviewed Mandela Fernández-Grandon, G., Gezan, Salvador A., Armour, John A.L., Pickett, John A. and Logan, James G. (2015) Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes. PLoS ONE, 10 (4). e0122716/1- e0122716/10. ISSN 1932-6203 http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122716 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122716 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0122716 |
| spellingShingle | Mandela Fernández-Grandon, G. Gezan, Salvador A. Armour, John A.L. Pickett, John A. Logan, James G. Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| title | Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| title_full | Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| title_fullStr | Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| title_short | Heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| title_sort | heritability of attractiveness to mosquitoes |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34283/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34283/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34283/ |