Biologists have proposed to “turn off” the proteins responsible for activating mosquito sperm. This was reported by the University of California at Riverside.
“Mosquitoes mate tail-to-tail and males pass sperm into females’ reproductive tracts. It can hide there for a while, but sperm still needs to get from point A to point B to complete fertilization,” said Cathy Thaler, one of the study’s authors. They are special proteins that activate the flagellum to enable the sperm to move.Without these proteins, the sperm cannot enter the egg and remain motionless.
Katie Thaler and her colleagues examined all the proteins in mosquito sperm to pinpoint those responsible for sperm activation. To begin, the scientists selected 200 male mosquitoes from a population, then extracted enough sperm from their small reproductive tract to run a mass spectrometry study. As a result, the study’s authors obtained a complete list of proteins from the seminal fluid of mosquitoes.
In a previous study, the same team of scientists found that sperm cells need calcium to provide energy for movement. “We can now look at the complete protein profile we’ve created, find the calcium channel proteins, and figure out how to disrupt their function through experiments,” the scientists say.
The authors hope that with this method it will be possible to control the number of mosquitoes in nature.
ancient scientists created faux leather for tracking mosquito bites.