Mosquitoes have a taste for human blood, as our blood is “salty and salty” according to newly published research.
The study, published in the scientific journal Neuron, found that female mosquitoes have two different feeding modes, one of which is nectar, which detects sugars and pierces the skin and feeds on blood like a syringe.
The study’s author, Leslie Voshal, and other researchers were able to offer mosquitoes four compounds to enter a “blood-feeding state”: glucose, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate (found in blood and baking soda), and adenosine triphosphate. ATP has no taste, but Washell notes it can be “exciting” for mosquitoes.
Scientists used an imaging device called a byte scop to monitor mosquito preferences for different foods. New research reveals how insects experience the taste of blood. (Credit: Light Lab)
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“ATP is this special mysterious material that tastes nothing to humans. “But it has been incredibly stimulating and beneficial for mosquitoes,” Washel said in a statement.
The researchers were able to make slight changes from the insects and give a fluorescent glow to see when a particular nerve cell is activated and how the cells respond to them in different meals.
“There is nothing like it in the human experience.” Washel added.
Researchers hope that why mosquitoes feed on human blood, a drug could be developed to stop excessive organisms from eating on us, Washel added, creating something similar to dog flea and tick medicine.
“If mosquitoes could not detect the taste of blood, in theory they could not have transmitted the disease,” said Veronica Jove, an HHMI Gilliam Fellow at Rockefeller University and lead author of the study.
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Blood-sucking insects, which spread diseases such as malaria, dengue and yellow fever, are responsible for at least 500,000 deaths a year. Only the female mosquito feeds on blood, developing it as the sustenance of her eggs.
“This is definitely the power of technological travel,” said Chris Potter, a neuroscientist at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine Medicine, in a statement. “It’s one we can use against mosquitoes.”
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