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Abstract

Elevation in CO2 can significantly impact the biology of various organisms, affecting life-history traits of both aquatic and terrestrial forms, including disease-vectoring mosquitoes. For mosquitoes, this effect is accentuated by egg quiescence duration, resulting in a change in foraging of adult females. Female mosquitoes rely on their olfactory system for locating resources, such as nectar and blood. This study employs a transcriptomic approach to investigate how a projected elevation in CO2 level, under a worst-case scenario, interacts with extended egg quiescence duration to modulate the molecular machinery of the peripheral olfactory system, the antennae and maxillary palps, of the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The transcriptome analysis demonstrates significant changes in the abundance of genes related to metabolism, xenobiotics degradation and chemosensory function, with the most pronounced effects observed in the CO2 sensing tissue, the maxillary palp. The study provides novel insights into how anthropogenic climate change can modulate the olfactory sensory system of disease vectors, which may have cascading effects on resource-seeking behaviour.

Keywords

Mosquitoes; Carbon dioxide; Climate change; Egg quiescence; Olfactory system; Transcriptome

Published in

Scientific Reports
2025, volume: 15, number: 1, article number: 14318
Publisher: NATURE PORTFOLIO

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Zoology
Ecology

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-98159-w

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/142502