New way to defeat dengue: deaf mosquitoes stop having sex

A team from the University of California, Irvine studied Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which spread the virus to about 400 million people a year.

They closely observed the insects’ aerial mating habits, which can last from a few seconds to just under a minute, and then figured out how to disrupt it using genetics.

They targeted a protein called trpVa, which appears to be important for hearing.

In the mutated mosquitoes, neurons normally involved in sound detection did not respond to the flight sounds or flapping wings of potential mates.

A seductive noise assaulted his ears.

In contrast, wild-type (non-mutant) males rapidly mated multiple times and impregnated almost all females in their cage.

Researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, who have published their work in the journal PNAS, externalsaid that the effect of knocking out the gene was “overwhelming” because mating of deaf males was completely eliminated.