Are divergent mosquito odorant receptors conserved behavioural regulators?

The olfactory system of mosquitoes is under strong selective pressure to use the same set of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and likely neural pathways, as signals for finding and discriminating among essential resources, e.g., nectar sources, vertebrate hosts and oviposition sites.

Mosquitoes must respond to these VOCs at the correct moment, which is done by modulating the olfactory system according to their physiological state, upon interaction with the environment.

These staged behavioural phenotypes of female mosquitoes are correlated with overall, as well as differential, changes in expression of odorant receptors.

The purpose of the proposed research project is to functionally characterise the phylogenetically diverse repertoire of odorant receptors of the dengue vector, Aedes aegypti, and the African malaria vector, Anopheles gambiae, using state-of-the-art technology in combination with our deep understanding of the VOCs involved in regulating mosquito behaviour.

Through structure-functional modelling we aim at identifying the molecular mechanism by which highly divergent Ors bind parsimoniously used VOCs.

In addition, we aim at identifying the functional role of the differentially regulated Ors through a combination of CRISPR-Cas9 editing, and physiological and behavioural phenotyping.

The project will greatly improve our understanding of how natural selection shapes and modulates odour-mediated behaviours.