Quantifying Mosquito Attraction Behavior Using Olfactometry

Abstract

When blood feeding from human hosts, female mosquitoes can transmit life-threatening pathogens to humans, including dengue virus, chikungunya virus, and Zika virus. Olfaction is the primary sense mosquitoes use to locate and differentiate hosts and studying it can lead to new strategies to reduce the risk of disease. To effectively study host-seeking behavior in mosquitoes, a repeatable, quantitative assay that isolates olfaction from other cues is critical for interpreting mosquito behavior. Here, we contribute an overview of methods and best practices for the study of mosquito attraction (or lack thereof) by using olfactometry to quantify behavior. In the accompanying protocols, we present an olfactory-based behavioral assay using a uniport olfactometer that measures mosquito attraction rate to specific stimuli. We include construction details, setup of the uniport olfactometer, details of the behavioral assay, and data analysis guidelines, as well as how to prepare the mosquitoes before their introduction into the olfactometer. This uniport olfactometer behavioral assay is currently one of the most reliable methods to study mosquito attraction to a single olfactory stimulus.