Mosquito Blood Meal Analysis

Abstract

The host associations of mosquitoes vary by species, with some species being relative generalists, whereas others specialize, to varying extents, on a particular subset of the available host community. These host associations are driving factors in transmission dynamics of mosquito-vectored pathogens. For this reason, characterizing the host associations of mosquito species is critical for understanding the epidemiology of mosquito-vectored pathogens. Diverse methods have been used to associate mosquito species with their hosts. These typically include collecting mosquitoes that bite a restrained host (bait) or collecting wild blood-engorged mosquitoes and matching their blood meal to reference samples (blood meal analysis). Blood meal analysis refers to a collection of molecular techniques for determining the taxonomic identity of the source of a mosquito blood meal using cytological, serological, or DNA-based characteristics of the blood meal. Blood meal analyses that are based on DNA markers have advantages over cytological and serological methods and are effective for determining species-level identities of hosts from a broad range of potential host taxa. Here, we discuss effective techniques for analyzing blood meals.