You are currently viewing the summary.
View Full TextLog in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
More options
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Summary
At first glance, the sex lives of mosquitoes may seem an esoteric topic. Yet, elucidating the details of mosquito mating may affect hundreds of millions of human lives each year. Anopheles mosquitoes are the principal vectors of the parasites that cause malaria in Africa, where in 2018, 93% of the world's estimated 228 million cases and 94% of its 405,000 malaria deaths occurred (1). On page 411 of this issue, Wang et al. (2) link clock gene expression, light, and temperature to the formation of male swarms and mating of Anopheles mosquitoes. They also suggest a role for the desaturase 1 (desat1) gene in the production of the cuticular hydrocarbon (surface chemicals that serve multiple roles for insects) heptacosane, which they found stimulates mating. These findings add to our knowledge of molecular factors and their interaction with the environment that together drive mating behavior in these mosquitoes.
This is an article distributed under the terms of the Science Journals Default License.