American scientists from the University of California at Santa Barbara have discovered an unusual way to stop mosquitoes from breeding. It turned out that deaf males of these insects do not show interest in procreation. The study was published in the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Courtship in many species of mosquitoes usually occurs as follows: females flap their wings at a frequency of about 500 Hz. When the males hear this, they take flight, buzzing at approximately 800 Hz. Males also quickly modulate this frequency when females are nearby. Then there is a quick rendezvous in the air, and the lovers go their separate ways.
The researchers hypothesized that hearing plays a role in this behavior, so they studied the auditory neurons of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which carry dengue fever and other diseases. It turned out that males have twice as many auditory neurons compared to females.
In their experiments, the team created deaf male mosquitoes by knocking out their trpVa gene using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.
Tests showed that hearing-deprived insects showed no interest in females, even if they were near them for a long time.
According to scientists, their discovery could reduce the number of infections carried by Aedes aegypti. To do this, it is planned to release a large number of sterile males into mosquito habitats, which could potentially suppress the population of harmful insects.
