Description
(odd numbers)
Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus are major mosquito species that transmit arboviruses such as dengue, Zika, chikungunya, and yellow fever. While their host-seeking behavior is well studied, less is known about their use of plant-derived sugar sources, which are essential for survival and daily activity. Date extract is known to attract mosquitoes, but the specific volatile compounds...
Insects utilize their antennal olfactory system to detect numerous environmental odors to aid in behaviors such as identifying food sources, host seeking, and mating. While Olfactory Receptor Neurons (ORNs) have been extensively studied, much less is known about the tormogen, trichogen, and thecogen support cells that are co-housed in olfactory sensilla. The Drosophila melanogaster antennal...
Mosquito-borne diseases continue to pose significant health risks globally, necessitating the development of effective and sustainable mosquito repellents. The perfumery industry has registered a wide range of diverse aromatic ingredients, that offers a potential source for new anti-mosquito compound discovery. This study explores the mosquito repellent properties of various perfumery...
In the Drosophila antenna, olfactory sensilla are the fundamental functional unit of odor detection and processing. These sensilla house not only the well-studied Olfactory Receptor Neurons (ORNs), but also three distinct support cells: the thecogen, trichogen, and tormogen cells. Our understanding of the role of support cells in olfactory signaling has been limited by the lack of markers to...
Olfaction is crucial for appetitive search in hungry insects, as odor plumes carry information about food quality and location. Hunger enhances sensitivity and preferences to food-related odors, presumably to maximize the chance of meeting nutritional demands. However, how hunger promotes odor-guided appetitive search into environments with limited accessibility is unexplored. To address this...
Odorants are detected by olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) that project to the antennal lobe (AL), the first olfactory neuropil in the insect brain. In the AL, ORNs make synaptic contacts with: i) projection neurons (PNs), which in turn send olfactory information to other brain areas; and ii) local interneurons (LNs) that form a dense network of lateral inhibitory and excitatory interactions...
The Eurasian spruce bark beetle (Ips typographus) is both a keystone species and a major pest in spruce forests across Europe and Asia, contributing to large-scale damage during epidemic outbreaks. Previous studies on insect chemosensation, including bark beetles like I. typographus, have been biased towards the adult life stage, while the larval sensory biology is largely unexplored,...
Gasterophilus spp. and gastrointestinal nematodes are among the main endoparasites affecting equines worldwide. Due to their recurrent presence in the host and the challenges associated with their diagnosis, treatments are typically administered once or twice a year using broad-spectrum antiparasitic drugs to target both parasites simultaneously. However, the growing issue of antiparasitic...
