The auditory system as target of novel insecticides

The prevention of mosquito-borne diseases has been largely based on using insecticides to kill the mosquitoes that carry them. The emergence and spread of insecticide resistance in mosquito populations across the globe is one of the main threats that endanger current mosquito-borne disease control efforts. To address this challenge, the research community is trying to design novel strategies for mosquito control and to develop new insecticides that can substitute or be combined with existing ones. Moreover, because the most widely used insecticide-based approaches, bednets and indoor residual spraying, target indoor-biting female mosquitoes, new approaches are needed that target males and outdoor-biting mosquitoes. By exploring the neurobiology of mosquito hearing and swarming behaviour, we aim at providing new molecular targets for insecticide development or to design genetic approaches that interfere with mosquito reproduction by disrupting the acoustic detection of the mating partner in the swarm. Our ‘targeted insecticide development approach’ would add to current available tools by affecting mostly males.