Author: Susan Milius / Source: Science News
Geneticists have found a scent-sniffer protein molecule in mosquito antennae that — if somehow jammed — might leave a bloodsucker confused about whether we’re human enough to bite.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which can spread Zika and dengue, prefer human blood to the blood of other animals. A string of experiments now shows that a protein called IR8a, found in the insects’ antennae, is one of the molecules necessary for detecting lactic acid, a component of human sweat, wafting by.
Human skin and its microbiome give off a lot of lactic acid compared…
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