Breath Detectors

Mosquitoes use the carbon dioxide you exhale to identify a potential food source. Now researchers have discovered the two receptors in fruit flies (similar insects) that help the insect to detect carbon dioxide. Since biting mosquitoes are known to pass on several infectious diseases, such as malaria and West Nile encephalitis, the findings could be important in the fight against these global diseases.

The two proteins, Gr21a (green) and Gr63a (red), must work together (white) to allow the fly's neurons to detect the gas. These neurons are found in a region of the brain that is dedicated to processing the smell of carbon dioxide.

"Though we don't know what other proteins might be involved in the signaling pathway, the identification of the carbon dioxide receptor provides a potential target for the design of inhibitors that would act as an insect repellent," said lead researcher Leslie Vosshall of Rockefeller University. "These inhibitors would help fight global infectious disease by reducing the attraction of blood-feeding insects to humans."

-- LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Leslie Vosshall/Rockefeller University