@article{21dfaa89e3004c638720f051c4e944fe,
title = "Evolution of mosquito preference for humans linked to an odorant receptor",
abstract = "Female mosquitoes are major vectors of human disease and the most dangerous are those that preferentially bite humans. A 'domestic' form of the mosquito Aedes aegypti has evolved to specialize in biting humans and is the main worldwide vector of dengue, yellow fever, and chikungunya viruses. The domestic form coexists with an ancestral, 'forest' form that prefers to bite non-human animals and is found along the coast of Kenya. We collected the two forms, established laboratory colonies, and document striking divergence in preference for human versus non-human animal odour. We further show that the evolution of preference for human odour in domestic mosquitoes is tightly linked to increases in the expression and ligand-sensitivity of the odorant receptor AaegOr4, which we found recognizes a compound present at high levels in human odour. Our results provide a rare example of a gene contributing to behavioural evolution and provide insight into how disease-vectoring mosquitoes came to specialize on humans.",
author = "McBride, {Carolyn S.} and Felix Baier and Omondi, {Aman B.} and Spitzer, {Sarabeth A.} and Joel Lutomiah and Rosemary Sang and Rickard Ignell and Vosshall, {Leslie B.}",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank M. K. N. Lawniczak, K. J. Lee, M. N. Nitabach, and the Vosshall laboratory for discussion and comments on the manuscript; J. E. Brown and J. R. Powell for discussion and coordination of field collections; W. Takken for advice regarding many aspects of this work; J.-P. Mutebi, B. Miller, and A. Ponlawat for live specimens from Uganda and Thailand; D. Beck, K. Nygaard, K. Prakash, and L. Seeholzer for expert technical assistance. We also thank X. Chen for pre-publication access to a draft Ae. albopictus genome assembly, and J. Liesch for access to Orlando strain RNA-seq data. We received valuable advice on collecting and working with forest and domestic forms of Ae. aegypti from M. Trpis, J. L. Peterson, and P. Lounibos, and on the design and use of two-port olfactometers from U. Bernier and V. Sherman. This work was funded in part by a grant to R. Axel and L.B.V. from the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health through the Grand Challenges in Global Health Initiative. This work was supported in part by the following National Institutes of Health grants: K99 award from NIDCD to C.S.M. (DC012069), an NIAID Vectorbase DBP subcontract to L.B.V. (HHSN272200900039C), and a CTSA award from NCATS (5UL1TR000043). R.I. received support from the Swedish Research Council and SLU: Insect Chemical Ecology and Evolution (IC-E3). L.B.V. is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.",
year = "2014",
month = nov,
day = "13",
doi = "10.1038/nature13964",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "515",
pages = "222--227",
journal = "Nature",
issn = "0028-0836",
publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
number = "7526",
}