<p align="justify" class="title">Your grandmother's insistence that you receive more bug bites because you are 'sweeter' may not be that far-fetched as a study claims that mosquitoes can rapidly learn and remember the smells of hosts.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US said dopamine is a key mediator of this process.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Mosquitoes use this information and incorporate it with other stimuli to develop preferences for a particular vertebrate host species, and, within that population, certain individuals, they said.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">However, the study also proved that even if an individual is deemed delicious-smelling, a mosquito's preference can shift if that person's smell is associated with an unpleasant sensation.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Hosts who swat at mosquitoes or perform other defensive behaviours may be abandoned, no matter how sweet they are, according to the study published in the journal Current Biology.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The researchers said mosquitoes exhibit a trait known as aversive learning by training female aedes aegypti mosquitoes to associate odours (including human body odours) with unpleasant shocks and vibrations.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are vectors for Zika fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses, and can be found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Twenty-four hours later, the same mosquitoes were assessed in a Y-maze olfactometer in which they had to fly upwind and choose between the once-preferred human body odour and a control odour.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The mosquitoes avoided the human body odour, suggesting that they had been successfully trained.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">By taking a multidisciplinary approach and using cutting-edge techniques, including CRISPR gene editing and RNAi, the scientists were also able to identify that dopamine is a key mediator of aversive learning in mosquitoes. </p>
<p align="justify" class="title">Your grandmother's insistence that you receive more bug bites because you are 'sweeter' may not be that far-fetched as a study claims that mosquitoes can rapidly learn and remember the smells of hosts.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the US said dopamine is a key mediator of this process.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Mosquitoes use this information and incorporate it with other stimuli to develop preferences for a particular vertebrate host species, and, within that population, certain individuals, they said.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">However, the study also proved that even if an individual is deemed delicious-smelling, a mosquito's preference can shift if that person's smell is associated with an unpleasant sensation.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Hosts who swat at mosquitoes or perform other defensive behaviours may be abandoned, no matter how sweet they are, according to the study published in the journal Current Biology.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The researchers said mosquitoes exhibit a trait known as aversive learning by training female aedes aegypti mosquitoes to associate odours (including human body odours) with unpleasant shocks and vibrations.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are vectors for Zika fever, dengue fever, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses, and can be found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">Twenty-four hours later, the same mosquitoes were assessed in a Y-maze olfactometer in which they had to fly upwind and choose between the once-preferred human body odour and a control odour.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">The mosquitoes avoided the human body odour, suggesting that they had been successfully trained.</p>.<p align="justify" class="bodytext">By taking a multidisciplinary approach and using cutting-edge techniques, including CRISPR gene editing and RNAi, the scientists were also able to identify that dopamine is a key mediator of aversive learning in mosquitoes. </p>