Moving and mating: Discerning the phenotype of a dopamine and ecdysone receptor in An. gambiae

Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes are the primary vector for malaria in sub-Saharan Africa and are becoming increasingly resistant to current methods of control. Understanding all aspects of the biology of this mosquito is important to bolster malaria control programs. Swarming is an incredibly important part of the life history of An. gambiae, as it is the arena for mating, thus it has recently been proposed as a future target for mosquito control. Swarms are formed by male An. gambiae gathering in groups of hundreds. Within swarms, males listen for females, who join the swarm solitarily to find a mating partner. Swarming is under strict environmental control, only happening after the sun sets at dusk and typically occurring near discrete markers in the landscape. Although the ecological components of swarming are understood, the molecular control of this important behavior are widely unknown. To start exploring the molecular basis of swarming, we conducted a transcriptomics analysis on the heads of mosquitoes across six different time points in a 24-hour period to identify the neurotransmitter receptors that are upregulated around swarming time. Through this analysis, a dopamine and ecdysone receptor, AgDopEcR, stood out as differentially expressed among sex and time; upregulated at swarming time in the heads of male mosquitoes. We are now analyzing the behavioral phenotype of this gene through a series of assays including mating, locomotion, and phonotaxis after an RNA interference induced knockdown of AgDopEcR.