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Clock genes and environmental cues coordinate Anopheles pheromone synthesis, swarming, and mating

2021; American Association for the Advancement of Science; Volume: 371; Issue: 6527 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1126/science.abd4359

1095-9203

Guandong Wang, Joel Vega-Rodríguez, Abdoulaye Diabaté, Jingnan Liu, Chunlai Cui, Charles Nignan, Ling Dong, Fang Li, Cheick Oumar Ouedrago, Abdoul Malik Bandaogo, Simon P. Sawadogo, Hamidou Maïga, Thiago Luiz Alves e Silva, Tales Vicari Pascini, Sibao Wang, Marcelo Jacobs-­Lorena,

Plant and animal studies

Anopheles mating is initiated by the swarming of males at dusk followed by females flying into the swarm. Here, we show that mosquito swarming and mating are coordinately guided by clock genes, light, and temperature. Transcriptome analysis shows up-regulation of the clock genes period (per) and timeless (tim) in the head of field-caught swarming Anopheles coluzzii males. Knockdown of per and tim expression affects Anopheles gambiae s.s. and Anopheles stephensi male mating in the laboratory, and it reduces male An. coluzzii swarming and mating under semifield conditions. Light and temperature affect mosquito mating, possibly by modulating per and/or tim expression. Moreover, the desaturase gene desat1 is up-regulated and rhythmically expressed in the heads of swarming males and regulates the production of cuticular hydrocarbons, including heptacosane, which stimulates mating activity.