After much speculation about why mosquitoes Some people bite, some don’t, science has decided. The amount of carboxylic acid that each individual produces in their skin will determine how attractive their body is to these insects. who produces higher levels of this compound will emit a certain body flavor and a “mosquito magnet”those who produce less will manage to go unnoticed by them any more.
That’s the main conclusion of the study, published by two researchers, Leslie Vosshall and María Elena de Obaldia, from New York’s Rockefeller University. The results were published in the journal Cell And they put an end to a number of popular theories about what attracts mosquitoes, often without any scientific basis.
Both researchers managed to show that this type of acid emitted from the skin can create a truly intoxicating perfume for mosquitoes. These substances in the human organism form a group of molecules that each person secretes in different amounts and compositions.creates a mark of personal identity.
“There’s a very, very strong correlation between having large amounts of these fatty acids in your skin and being a magnet for mosquitoes,” Professor Vosshall said.
64 volunteers with socks on their arms
This result was discovered after three years of experimentation. The scientists asked 64 volunteers to wear nylon stockings on their arms. in this way to be able to impregnate them with the molecules of your skin. The mosquitoes were given 2,300 different tests in which each pair of socks was shown so they could detect their scent and select some of them.
Mosquitoes were used to perform this test. aedes aegyptiMajor vector types for Zika, dengue, yellow fever and chikungunyaand observed how insects fly through different tubes towards a sock.
Until today, The volunteer most attractive to these mosquitoes was the so-called ‘Subject 33’, who received four times as many visits as the next-ranked insects.and at least 100 times more than their least visited ‘Subject 19’.
Samples in the trials were not identified, so experimenters did not know which participant was wearing which stocking. However, they quickly noticed something unusual in any test involving Subject 33, because insects were swarming directly into her tights. “It became clear a few seconds after the trial began,” says De Obaldia.
Immediately afterwards, and in light of the results, the researchers analyzed the different volunteers to find out what differentiated them. They used chemical analysis techniques to identify 50 molecular compounds found in the participants’ skin. It was then found that the volunteers most attractive to mosquitoes produced much higher levels of carboxylic acid than the others.
This substance is used by skin bacteria to produce the body odor that every person has. and that each person is unique.
This discovery opens the door to the manufacture of mosquito repellent products that reduce the presence of these acids or infect the bacteria that produce the body odor of every human being.
Although the experiment (which was later expanded to include more participants with the same results) was conducted with the mosquito species mentioned above, the researchers believe other specimens would have the same behavior.
Reference work: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)01253-3
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