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

Cuticular pheromone circadian regulation Several species of anopheline mosquitoes are important malaria vectors in Africa. Male mosquitoes show species-specific swarming behaviors at certain times of the day to attract females for mating. Wang et al. found that transcriptional patterns of metabolic and immune function genes apparently showed a diurnal rhythm that correlated with the physiological demands of mating flight swarming (see the Perspective by Manoukis). By altering temperature and light regimes and by knocking out the master genes period and timeless for circadian clock regulation, the authors disrupted mating flight behavior in a combination of cage experiments and enclosed field conditions. Knocking out the rhythmically expressed desaturase enzyme reduced cuticular hydrocarbon pheromone production and limited mating success. These key interacting components of the diurnal regulation of mosquito mating behavior are potential targets for alternative malaria control strategies. Science , this issue p. 411 ; see also p. 340