If you thought the sex lives of humans were complicated, consider the case of the female Aedes aegypti mosquito, bringer of Zika, dengue, and yellow fever: She mates but once, in seconds and on the wing, with one lucky male; spurns all further advances from other potential suitors; and stores enough sperm from that single encounter to lay more than 500 eggs, which she nourishes with the blood of human hosts.
Understanding her sexual behavior could help prevent her from transmitting the deadly diseases she carries to millions of people every year. Yet many of the mechanisms governing her mating habits remain a mystery.
Recently, however, researchers … demonstrated that a chemical transferred from the male of the species during sex plays a key role in shaping the female’s sexual proclivities. Their work … could yield new strategies for keeping this pest, and the pestilence it spreads, in check.
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[S]cientists now have a much better understanding of what shapes female mating behavior not only within one dangerous mosquito species, but across two of them. And those insights could have far-reaching implications.Share this article
For example, scientists might eventually be able to limit the number of disease-carrying mosquitoes by using a substance like HP-I to persuade females to avoid mating in the first place.
[Editor’s note: Read full study (behind paywall)]
Read full, original post: Mosquito sex protein could provide key to controlling disease
