Exploiting the chemical ecology of mosquito oviposition behavior in mosquito surveillance and control: a review

Abstract

Vector control is an important component of the interventions aimed at mosquito‐borne disease control. Current and future mosquito control strategies are likely to rely largely on the understanding of the behavior of the vector, by exploiting mosquito biology and behavior, while using cost‐effective, carefully timed larvicidal and high‐impact, low‐volume adulticidal applications. Here we review the knowledge on the ecology of mosquito oviposition behavior with emphasis on the potential role of infochemicals in surveillance and control of mosquito‐borne diseases. A search of PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Global Health Archive, and Google Scholar databases was conducted using the keywords mosquito, infochemical, pheromone, kairomone, allomone, synomone, apneumone, attractant, host‐seeking, and oviposition. Articles in English from 1974 to 2019 were reviewed to gain comprehensive understanding of current knowledge on infochemicals in mosquito resource‐searching behavior. Oviposition of many mosquito species is mediated by infochemicals that comprise pheromones, kairomones, synomones, allomones, and apneumones. The novel putative infochemicals that mediate oviposition in the mosquito subfamilies Anophelinae and Culicinae were identified. The role of infochemicals in surveillance and control of these and other mosquito tribes is discussed with respect to origin of the chemical cues and how these affect gravid mosquitoes. Oviposition attractants and deterrents can potentially be used for manipulation of mosquito behavior by making protected resources unsuitable for mosquitoes (push) while luring them towards attractive sources (pull). In this review, strategies of targeting breeding sites with environmentally friendly larvicides with the aim to develop appropriate trap‐and‐kill techniques are discussed.

From tissue engineering to mosquitoes: biopolymers as tools for developing a novel biomimetic approach to pest management/vector control

“…More than 100 attractive substances have been found, as reported in the literature. However, they are not selective, have efficacy limited to specific environmental conditions [90,91], and, overall, no information is available about their effect on trap competitiveness against natural breeding sites.…”

“…Mosquito oviposition is a complex and multifactorial event requiring selection of the egg-laying site during which the gravid female, guided by several stimuli, identifies the most suitable site for the offspring's survival [91]. Given the extreme adaptability of A. albopictus at the larval level [77], both in natural and in anthropised contexts of different geographical areas, many signals (e.g., surface features, volatile compounds from decaying vegetal matter and microbial community, site/background colour, adequate pH and salinity, presence of conspecific larvae or predators [40]) play a role in identifying microenvironments for site selection [98][99][100][101][102].…”

Molecular and functional characterization of a conserved odorant receptor from Aedes albopictus

“…In addition, the alignment of amino acid sequences indicated that Or11 was conserved among three major disease-transmitting vectors: Anopheles , Culex , and Aedes (Additional file 1 : Figure S1). Such conserved and female-biased odorant receptors as Or11 should be significant for the olfactory system in mosquitoes; thus, we deorphanized AalbOr11 in Xenopus oocytes by a panel of odorants with physiologically and behaviorally relevant compounds, including human-related odorants, oviposition attractants, and plant repellents [ 13 , 28 , 42 ]. The expression profiles of AalbOr11 among different sexes, ages, and physiological states were investigated.…”

Egg-laying by female Aedes aegypti shapes the bacterial communities of breeding sites

“…aegypti oviposition (Benzon and Apperson, 1988; Ponnusamy et al, 2008; Melo et al, 2020). Indeed, females can locate suitable breeding sites using infochemicals emitted by microbes inhabiting the aquatic niche (Mwingira et al, 2020). This choice is probably under selection pressure because microorganisms within oviposition containers not only represent food to the larvae but can also establish intricate host-bacterial community networks eventually defining a symbiotic relation (Ponnusamy et al, 2008).…”