Do you know that mosquitoes use the carbon dioxide exhaled by people to identify a potential food source? But, what help these help these insects detect carbon dioxide? Recently, the fruit flies are found with two molecular receptors that help such insects detect carbon dioxide.
These findings could eventually prove to be important in fight against global infectious diseases, like those being caused by their bite — such as malaria, yellow fever, and West Nile encephalitis.
The fruit fly’s antennae consist of one protein — Gr21a – previously found in the carbon dioxide responsive neurons. Vosshall, Chemers Family Associate Professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior at Rockefeller explained,
Insects are especially sensitive to carbon dioxide, using it to track food sources and assess their surrounding environment.
The neurons in insects that respond to carbon dioxide were already known, but the molecular mechanism by which these neurons sense this gas was a mystery.
This finding has been reported in the advance online publication in Nature.
