RT Journal Article
T1 Mosquitoes are attracted by the odour of Plasmodium-infected birds
A1 Díez Fernández, Alazne
A1 Martínez de la Puente, Josué
A1 Gangoso De La Colina, Laura Esther
A1 López, Pilar
A1 Soriguer, Ramón
A1 Martín, José
A1 Figuerola, Jordi
AB Parasites can manipulate their hosts to increase their transmission success. Avian malaria parasites (Plasmodium) are thought to alter the cues such as host odour, used by host-seeking mosquitoes. Bird odour is affected by secretions from the uropygial gland and may play a role in modulating vector-host interactions. We tested the hypothesis that mosquitoes are more attracted to the uropygial secretions and/or whole-body odour (headspace) of Plasmodium-infected house sparrows (Passer domesticus) than to those of uninfected birds. We tested the attraction of nulliparous (e.g. uninfected mosquitoes without previous access to blood) Culex pipiens females towards these stimuli in a dual-choice olfactometer. We used Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) analyses to assess whether Plasmodium infection is associated with differences in the chemical composition of uropygial secretions. Mosquitoes were more attracted to the odours of infected than uninfected birds, regardless of sex. However, the significant interaction between infection status and the stimuli (uropygial secretion or headspace) showed that mosquitoes were more attracted to the headspace of infected birds; no differences were found in the case of uropygial secretions. The compounds in the volatile lipophilic fraction of the uropygial secretion did not differ between infected and uninfected birds. These results support the host manipulation hypothesis since avian Plasmodium parasites may be capable of altering their host’s body odour, thereby making infected individuals more attractive to mosquitoes.
PB Elsevier
SN 0020-7519
YR 2020
FD 2020
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/111033
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/111033
LA eng
NO Díez-Fernández, A., Martínez-de La Puente, J., Gangoso, L., López, P., Soriguer, R., Martín, J., & Figuerola, J. (2020). Mosquitoes are attracted by the odour of Plasmodium-infected birds. International Journal for Parasitology, 50(8), 569-575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpara.2020.03.013
NO This study was funded by projects CGL2015-65055-P and PGC2018-095704-B-100 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and European Regional Development Fund (FEDER, Spain), and P11-RNM-7038 from the Junta de Andalucía (Spain). ADF was supported by a Severo-Ochoa grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SVP-2014-068571). LG was supported by a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship from the European Commission (grant number 747729, “EcoEvoClim”).
NO Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España)
NO European Commission
NO Junta de Andalucía
DS Docta Complutense
RD 26 abr 2025