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BACKGROUND: Insect olfactory organs possess many olfactory receptor neurons, which detect many different sets of odorants in nature. In order to feed on blood meals, stableflies locate host animals and humans using chemical cues such as 1-octen-3-ol andbutyricacid.Inthepresentstudy,behaviouralandelectroantennogram(EAG)responsepatternstorepellentvolatilesfrom essential oils (EOs) of Zanthoxylumpiperitum and Z.armatum in combination with the attractants were investigated. RESULTS: Components of the EOs such as cuminaldehyde, citronellal, neral, linalool, linalool oxide, terpinen-4-ol, 1,8-cineole, and piperitone induced remarkable repellent behaviours in the stable fly. EAG responses in the fly antenna to these chemicals showed a dose-dependent manner. The patterns of behavioural and EAG responses were significantly altered depending on the ratios of 1-octen-3-ol or butyric acid to the EOs or compounds in the air mixtures. CONCLUSION:ThepresentstudydemonstratedthattheZanthoxylumEOsdecreasedthelevelsofresponseofflightbehaviours of the stable fly towards host volatile compounds. The combinations of odorant mixtures of the attractants with the EOs and their components affect the representation of behavioural and EAG responses of the flies. The summation and integration patterns of olfactory responses measured by the EAG indicated that the peripheral olfactory networks in antennae could process the odorant complexity of different odorant mixtures between attractants and repellents. c � 2013 Society of Chemical Industry

Heat sensitivity is a sensory modality that plays a critical role in close-range host-seeking behaviors of adult female Anopheles gambiae, the principal Afrotropical vector for human malaria. An essential step in this activity is the ability to discriminate and respond to increases in environmental temperature gradients through the process of peripheral thermoreception. Here, we report on the characterization of the anopheline homolog of the transient receptor potential (TRP) A1/ANKTM1 channel that is consistent with its role as a heat-sensor in host-seeking adult female mosquitoes. We identify a set of distal antennal sensory structures that specifically respond to temperature gradients and express AgTRPA1. Functional characterization of AgTRPA1 in Xenopus oocytes supports its role in the molecular transduction of temperature gradients in An. gambiae, providing a basis for targeting mosquito heat responses as a means toward reducing malaria transmission.

The olfactory-driven blood-feeding behaviour of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes is the primary transmission mechanism by which the arboviruses causing dengue and yellow fevers affect over 40 million individuals worldwide. Bioinformatics analysis has been used to identify 131 putative odourant receptors from the A. aegypti genome that are likely to function in chemosensory perception in this mosquito. Comparison with the Anopheles gambiae olfactory subgenome demonstrates significant divergence of the odourant receptors that reflects a high degree of evolutionary activity potentially resulting from their critical roles during the mosquito life cycle. Expression analyses in the larval and adult olfactory chemosensory organs reveal that the ratio of odourant receptors to antennal glomeruli is not necessarily one to one in mosquitoes.