| Literature DB >> 20126628 |
Fredros O Okumu1, Gerry F Killeen, Sheila Ogoma, Lubandwa Biswaro, Renate C Smallegange, Edgar Mbeyela, Emmanuel Titus, Cristina Munk, Hassan Ngonyani, Willem Takken, Hassan Mshinda, Wolfgang R Mukabana, Sarah J Moore.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Disease transmitting mosquitoes locate humans and other blood hosts by identifying their characteristic odor profiles. Using their olfactory organs, the mosquitoes detect compounds present in human breath, sweat and skins, and use these as cues to locate and obtain blood from the humans. These odor compounds can be synthesized in vitro, then formulated to mimic humans. While some synthetic mosquito lures already exist, evidence supporting their utility is limited to laboratory settings, where long-range stimuli cannot be investigated. METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPALEntities:
Mesh:
Year: 2010 PMID: 20126628 PMCID: PMC2812511 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008951
Source DB: PubMed Journal: PLoS One ISSN: 1932-6203 Impact factor: 3.240
Figure 1A conceptual model summarizing the development of the odor blend.
The process began with a weakly attractive mixture containing 2.5% aqueous ammonia and CO2 gas flowing at 500 ml/min, which was enhanced by adding 85% L-lactic acid (LA). Onto the resulting mixture, each of the other aliphatic carboxylic acids was added separately, each of them at their optimally attractive concentrations. The blend therefore consisted of the CO2 gas plus hydrous solutions of ammonia (2.5%) and L-lactic acid (85%), and the other aliphatic carboxylic acids at their respective optimum concentrations as follows: propionic acid (C3) at 0.1%, butanoic acid (C4) at 1%, pentanoic acid (C5) at 0.01%, 3-methylbutanoic acid (3mC4) at 0.001%, heptanoic acid (C7) at 0.01%, octanoic acid (C8) at 0.01% and tetradecanoic acid (C14) at 0.01%. Finally, a variant of the blend was formulated by removing 3mC4.
Figure 2Long range performance of the synthetic blend and its variant.
Average number of mosquitoes caught per night, inside experimental huts whenever the blend, its variant (without 3-methyl butanoic acid) or a human volunteer was inside the hut. There were significantly more mosquitoes caught in huts baited with the blend or its variant than in huts baited with humans (P<0.001) as determined by General Linear Model using SPSS version 15 (SPSS Inc.). However, no difference was observed between the blend and its variant (P>0.05). The error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 3Short range performance of the synthetic blend.
Addition of the synthetic blend into huts occupied by human volunteers significantly increased the number of mosquitoes caught in the huts compared to huts with only a human volunteer (A). However, once the mosquitoes were inside the huts, preferences for either bait type were similar for An. funestus (P = 0.179) and the other unidentified Anopheles mosquitoes (P = 0.82) but humans remained significantly more attractive to An. gambiae s.l. (P<0.001), Culex (P = 0.045) and Mansonia mosquitoes (P<0.001) (B), by General Linear Model using SPSS version 15 (SPSS Inc.). The error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.
Proportions of various mosquito taxa making up the total mosquito catches in experimental huts baited with the blend, its variant (without 3-methylbutanoic acid) or humans.
|
|
| Other |
|
| Totals | |
| Blend | 31% (2082) | 2% (125) | 11% (715) | 26% (1998) | 30% (1748) | 100% (6668) |
| Blend variant | 30% (1921) | 2% (132) | 11% (712) | 24% (2151) | 33% (1576) | 100% (6492) |
| Human | 28% (991) | 2% (78) | 8% (281) | 34% (1015) | 28% (1200) | 100% (3565) |
Numbers in parentheses refer to the total number of mosquitoes caught during the entire field study.