A - Papers appearing in refereed journals
Robinson, A., Busula, A. O., Voets, M. A, Beshir, K. B., Caulfield, J. C., Powers, S. J., Verhulst, N. O., Winskill, P., Muwanguzi, J., Birkett, M. A., Smallegange, R. C., Masiga, D. K., Mukabana, W. R., Sauerwein, R. W., Sutherland, C. J., Bousema, T., Pickett, J. A., Takken, W., Logan, J. G. and De Boer, J. G. 2018. Plasmodium-associated changes in human odor attract mosquitoes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 115 (18), pp. E4209-E4218. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721610115
Authors | Robinson, A., Busula, A. O., Voets, M. A, Beshir, K. B., Caulfield, J. C., Powers, S. J., Verhulst, N. O., Winskill, P., Muwanguzi, J., Birkett, M. A., Smallegange, R. C., Masiga, D. K., Mukabana, W. R., Sauerwein, R. W., Sutherland, C. J., Bousema, T., Pickett, J. A., Takken, W., Logan, J. G. and De Boer, J. G. |
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Abstract | Malaria parasites (Plasmodium) can change the attractiveness of their vertebrate hosts to Anopheles vectors, leading to a greater number of vector–host contacts and increased transmission. Indeed, naturally Plasmodium-infected children have been shown to attract more mosquitoes than parasite-free children. Here, we demonstrate Plasmodium-induced increases in the attractiveness of skin odor in Kenyan children and reveal quantitative differences in the production of specific odor components in infected vs. parasite-free individuals. We found the aldehydes heptanal, octanal, and nonanal to be produced in greater amounts by infected individuals and detected by mosquito antennae. In behavioral experiments, we demonstrated that these, and other, Plasmodium-induced aldehydes enhanced the attractiveness of a synthetic odor blend mimicking “healthy” human odor. Heptanal alone increased the attractiveness of “parasite-free” natural human odor. Should the increased production of these aldehydes by Plasmodium-infected humans lead to increased mosquito biting in a natural setting, this would likely affect the transmission of malaria. |
Keywords | Malaria transmission; Host attractiveness; Parasite–vector–host interactions; Aldehydes; Disease biomarkers |
Year of Publication | 2018 |
Journal | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
Journal citation | 115 (18), pp. E4209-E4218 |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1721610115 |
PubMed ID | 29666273 |
Open access | Published as green open access |
Funder | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council |
Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research ( NWO) | |
Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development | |
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation | |
Funder project or code | NWO Project 016.158.306 |
ZonMWTOP Grant 91211038 | |
Publisher's version | Copyright license CC BY-NC-ND |
Supplemental file | Copyright license Publisher copyright |
Output status | Published |
Publication dates | |
Online | 16 Apr 2018 |
Publisher | Natl Acad Sciences |
National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America | |
ISSN | 0027-8424 |
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