Journal of Mosquito Research 2024, Vol.14, No.2, 61-66 http://emtoscipublisher.com/index.php/jmr 61 Scientific Review Open Access Genetic Decoding of the African Malaria Mosquito Olfactory System: New Insights into Responses to Human Odors Henry Smith Journal of Mosquito Research, EmtoSci Publisher, Richmond, BC, V7A4Z5, Canada Corresponding email: 1931515591@qq.com Journal of Mosquito Research, 2024, Vol.14, No.2 doi: 10.5376/jmr.2024.14.0007 Received: 04 Apr., 2024 Accepted: 11 Apr., 2024 Published: 16 Apr., 2024 Copyright © 2024 Smith, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Smith H., 2024, Genetic decoding of the african malaria mosquito olfactory system: new insights into responses to human odors, Journal of Mosquito Research, 14(2): 61-66 (doi: 10.5376/jmr.2024.14.0007) The paper "An expanded neurogenetic toolkit to decode olfaction in the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae," authored by Diego Giraldo, Andrew M. Hammond, Jinling Wu, et al., was published in Cell Reports Methods on March 27, 2024, from institutions such as Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London. In this research, Giraldo and colleagues developed a neurogenetic toolkit to decode the olfactory system of the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. By creating cell-type-specific driver lines, the research team successfully encoded genetic access to specific olfactory sensory neuron populations and validated the application of these tools in decoding mosquito responses to human odors. The method integrates the driver-responder-marker (DRM) system using CRISPR-Cas9 technology, thereby enabling rapid identification of the expression patterns of target chemoreceptor genes by screening GFP+ olfactory sensory neurons. 1 Experimental Data Analysis In this study, scientists successfully achieved cell-type-specific expression in olfactory sensory neurons of the African malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae, by applying CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology. This technological breakthrough allows the research team to precisely manipulate the activity of specific chemoreceptor genes, thereby exploring how mosquitoes recognize and respond to human odors through olfaction. Furthermore, the introduction of calcium imaging techniques enabled researchers to observe in real-time the activity changes in these olfactory sensory neurons upon exposure to human odor molecules, revealing the differential responses of various chemoreceptor genes to specific olfactory substances. These experimental results provide important biological insights into understanding the olfactory host-seeking mechanism of mosquitoes. Figure 1 illustrates the driver-responder-marker (DRM) system constructed using CRISPR-Cas9 mediated homology-directed repair (HDR) technology, which is designed for rapid reporting of gene expression patterns and has developed a binary T2A-QF2 driver for the Anopheles gambiae chemoreceptor genes Gr22, Ir25a, and Ir76b. The diagram shows the three components of the DRM module: the T2A-QF2 driver, QUAS-mCD8::GFP responder, and Act5C-ECFPtransgenic marker. These components are surrounded by homology arms to facilitate the correct insertion of the DRM module into the coding exons of Gr22, Ir25a, and Ir76b, generating the corresponding DRM lines. Part B explains that once the DRM lines are established, the QUAS-mCD8::GFP responder component can be removed via Cre-loxP mediated excision to produce standard T2A-QF2 driver lines suitable for binary use, resulting in the Gr22QF2、Ir25aQF2 and Ir76b QF2 lines. This system provides an efficient tool for rapidly and precisely manipulating and identifying specific olfactory neurons.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ4ODYzNA==