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Mosquito heat seeking is driven by an ancestral cooling receptor

Garrity, Paul, Brandeis University, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8274-6564
pgarrity@brandeis.edu
Published Apr 26, 2021 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbcg3

Cite this dataset

Garrity, Paul (2021). Mosquito heat seeking is driven by an ancestral cooling receptor [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.pzgmsbcg3

Abstract

Mosquitoes transmit pathogens that kill >700,000 people annually. These insects use body heat to locate and feed on warm-blooded hosts, but the molecular basis of such behavior is unknown. Here, we identify ionotropic receptor IR21a, a receptor conserved throughout insects, as a key mediator of heat seeking in the malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. Although Ir21a mediates heat avoidance in Drosophila, we find it drives heat seeking and heat-stimulated blood feeding in Anopheles. At a cellular level, Ir21a is essential for the detection of cooling, suggesting that during evolution mosquito heat seeking relied on cooling-mediated repulsion. Our data indicate that the evolution of blood feeding in Anopheles involves repurposing an ancestral thermoreceptor from non–blood-feeding Diptera.

Methods

These data are collected and processed as described in:  Mosquito heat-seeking is driven by an ancestral cooling receptor; Chloe Greppi1†, Willem J. Laursen1†, Gonzalo Budelli1, Elaine C. Chang1, Abigail M. Daniels1, Lena van Giesen1, Andrea L. Smidler2,3, Flaminia Catteruccia2, and Paul A. Garrity1*

Usage notes

"ReadMe_Garrity" file contains list of data files

Funding

National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Award: F31 AI133945

National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Award: R01 AI12280

National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Award: R21 AI140018

National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Award: 2T32NS007292

National Institute of General Medical Sciences, Award: F32 GM113318

Swiss National Science Foundation, Award: P2FRP3_168480

Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Award: OPP1158190

National Science Foundation, Award: IOS 1557781

Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Award: OPP1158190

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Award: R01 AI122802

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Award: OPP1158190

Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Award: OPP1158190