Volume 32, No 12, Dec 2022

ISSN: 1001-0602 
EISSN: 1748-7838 2018 
impact factor 17.848* 
(Clarivate Analytics, 2019)

Volume 32 Issue 12, December 2022: 1040-1041

RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

The scent of a microbe: how host viral infection increases mosquito attraction

Tamia A. Harris-Tryon^1,2,*

¹Department of Dermatology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
²Department of Immunology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA
Correspondence: Tamia A. Harris-Tryon(tamia.harris-tryon@UTSouthwestern.edu)

Dengue and Zika are mosquito-borne viruses, requiring mosquito contact for infection. In a recent Cell article, Zhang et al. show that when mice and humans are infected with these viruses, skin production of the antimicrobial protein RELMα drops, allowing colonization with Bacillus spp. that generate a volatile small molecule called acetophenone, which increases mosquito seeking behavior to infected host skin.

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41422-022-00717-8

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