Scientists deprived mosquitoes of hearing to stop dangerous viruses – Science and IT

Scientists “damaged” the hearing of male mosquitoes to completely stop their reproduction.

Researchers at the University of California, Irvine have found an unusual way to reduce the spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, yellow fever and the Zika virus.

This was reported by the BBC publication.

A study has shown that male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes rely on hearing to detect females by the sounds of their wings. Scientists experimentally disrupted the hearing of males, which led to the fact that even after three days of being in a cage together, they could not mate with females.

The study focused on the trpVa protein, which is critical to the hearing function of mosquitoes. The mutated mosquitoes showed no response to sounds that normally attract males.

As a result, while wild males were actively mating and…