The sensory arsenal mosquitoes use to find us

TitleThe sensory arsenal mosquitoes use to find us
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2025
AuthorsMontell C
JournalTrends Parasitol
Volume41
Issue7
Pagination591-602
Date Published2025 Jul
ISSN1471-5007
KeywordsAnimals, Culicidae, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans
Abstract

Female mosquitoes that home in on people for blood meals are exquisitely effective at finding us. This is because they are endowed with an uncanny ability to sense virtually every cue people provide. These include exhaled CO, the image of the host, and volatile body odors, which can be detected at distances of multiple meters. When they traverse to under 1 m, they sense thermal infrared (IR). Within a few centimeters of a human, they detect convection heat and humidity emanating from skin. Upon landing, mosquitoes taste nonvolatile chemicals and sense conduction heat before electing to engorge on blood or fly away. This review focuses on the cellular and receptor mechanisms underlying the sensory detection mechanisms that mosquitoes use to home in on us.

DOI10.1016/j.pt.2025.05.004
Alternate JournalTrends Parasitol
PubMed ID40447468
PubMed Central IDPMC12352024
Grant ListR01 AI165575 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01 AI169386 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01 DC007864 / DC / NIDCD NIH HHS / United States
R01 DC016278 / DC / NIDCD NIH HHS / United States