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The Genetics Of Olfactory And Visually Guided Attractive Behaviors In Aedes Aegypti Mosquito, Joshua Ibukun Raji

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mosquitoes detect their hosts and seek suitable resources crucial for survival by integrating chemosensory, thermal, and visual cues. The diversity of the cues involved in mosquito attractive behaviors has made the design of behavioral control strategies a challenge. The genetic basis of mosquito attractive behaviors can now be determined using genome editing. The contribution of the IR8a chemosensory pathway was uncovered by disrupting the IR8a co- receptor in Aedes aegypti using CRISPR/Cas9. Ir8a mutant female mosquitoes are not attracted to lactic acid, a behaviorally active component of human sweat, and lack odor-evoked responses to acidic volatiles. The loss of Ir8a …