How mosquitoes time their bites

Molecular regulation of mosquito biting timing

Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

In this episode, Laura Duvall introduces a potential pathway for disrupting the biting behavior of mosquitoes.

In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[00:57] Mosquito neuroscientist Laura Duvall introduces us to the normal biting behavior of mosquitoes.
•[02:46] She tells why the biting behavior of the Aedes aegypti mosquito is of particular interest.
•[03:24] Duvall describes findings regarding how mosquitoes' responses to CO2 vary over times of day.
•[05:37] She introduces the PDF peptide that might be regulating timing of biting behavior and explains how losing that peptide changed mosquitoes' behavior.
•[08:07] Duvall talks about the takeaways from the study for control of mosquito-borne illnesses.
•[08:53] She lists the caveats and limitations of the study.
•[09:26] Conclusion.

About Our Guest:

Laura Duvall
Assistant Professor
Columbia University

View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2520826122

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