In the middle of the swarm: neuromodulation of the auditory function in malaria mosquitoes

Malaria mosquitoes mate in swarms. They use their antennal ears to detect the mating partners through their flight tones. Because the swarm is noisy, and the mosquito flight tones faint, mosquito auditory organs are highly sensitive and complex. We discovered a few years ago that the mosquito ear is innervated by a complex neuromodulatory network of neurotransmitters that are released from the brain, what is called an efferent system. This system is unique as mosquitoes are the only insect where auditory efferent activity has been described. Because mosquito hearing is necessary for mosquito reproduction, we hypothesize that disrupting the efferent system could be an innovative target for mosquito control. In the initial fellowship period, we focused on studying two of there neurotransmitters, octopamine and serotonin, to analyse their auditory roles in the swarm context and the implications for mosquito mating. For the second fellowship period, we would like to build on these results and provide a better understanding of the underlying fundamental biology mechanisms and explore implications for malaria control. We will also study the auditory role of the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA, which extensively innervates the auditory nerve. We aim at providing a comprehensive understanding of the role of individual neurotransmitters modulating mosquito audition and swarming behaviour and of the emergent properties of the system. We will also explore specific tools to disrupt mosquito audition and swarming behaviour and model the effects on malaria transmission.