PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Clément Vinauger
AU  - Chloé Lahondère
AU  - Gabriella H. Wolff
AU  - Lauren T. Locke
AU  - Jessica E. Liaw
AU  - Jay Z. Parrish
AU  - Omar S. Akbari
AU  - Michael H. Dickinson
AU  - Jeffrey A. Riffell
TI  - Modulation of host learning in <em>Aedes aegypti</em> mosquitoes
AID  - 10.1101/172726
DP  - 2017 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 172726
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/04/172726.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2017/08/04/172726.full
AB  - How mosquitoes determine which individuals to bite has important epidemiological consequences. This choice is not random; most mosquitoes specialize in one or a few vertebrate host species, and some individuals in a host population are preferred over others. Here we show that aversive olfactory learning contributes to mosquito preference both between and within host species. Combined electrophysiological and behavioural recordings from tethered flying mosquitoes demonstrated that these odours evoke changes in both behaviour and antennal lobe (AL) neuronal responses. Using electrophysiological and behavioural approaches, and CRISPR gene editing, we demonstrate that dopamine plays a critical role in aversive olfactory learning and modulating odour-evoked responses in AL neurons. Collectively, these results provide the first experimental evidence that olfactory learning in mosquitoes can play an epidemiological role.