Mosquitoes can be trained not to bite humans

Washington, January 29: In a massive development, an experiment proved that mosquitoes can be trained to not bite humans. As per a study in Current Biology, you can train the insect by slapping it when it is about to bite you.

Reseachers from the University of Washington recently conducted an experiment to further explore what attracts the bugs to certain host species.

To do so, they examined mosquitoes and their patterns. They found that the flies can quickly learn and remember the smells of hosts as they store that information to develop preferences for particular agents.

However, they also pick up on movement, such as swatting. In fact, they can learn to associate an odor with an unpleasant gesture.

They tested their theory by training the mosquitoes to pair a scent from a person or animal with a mechanical shock, which simulated swatting. The insects soon noticed the link between the two senses and flew in a different direction away from the hosts.

“Once mosquitoes learned odors in an aversive manner, those odors caused aversive responses on the same order as responses to DEET, which is one of the most effective mosquito repellents,” senior author Jeff Riffel said in a statement.

The scientists also discovered that dopamine is essential to mosquito learning. During the second part of the study, they monitored the neurons in their brains. They found that without dopamine, “those neurons were less likely to fire,” leaving the mosquitoes with less ability to retain information.

“By understanding how mosquitoes are making decisions on whom to bite, and how learning influences those behaviors, we can better understand the genes and neuronal bases of the behaviors,” said Riffell. “This could lead to more effective tools for mosquito control.”