Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears

Su, Matthew P.; Andrés, Marta; Boyd-Gibbins, Nicholas; Somers, Jason; Albert, Joerg T.

doi:10.1038/s41467-018-06388-7

Cited by 59 publications

(138 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…However, it is not yet known if the density of these nerve fibers exhibit sex differences in humans at specific frequencies along the tonotopic map of the cochlea. In insect ears (mosquitos), there are sex-specific differences in the spatial distribution of the efferent auditory pathway that is responsible for modulating auditory sensitivity (Su, Andres, Andres, Boyd-Gibbins, Somers, & Albert, 2018). Sex-specific differences in intra-swarm acoustic communication in mosquitoes also exist for the mechanotransduction channel; the gating properties of this channel differ between the sexes with male mosquitoes having more sensitive transducers compared to females (Su et al, 2018).…”

Section: Sex Differences In Cochlear Structure and Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In other species, including birds (Krentzel & Remage-Healey, 2015), fish (Fergus, Feng, Feng, & Bass, 2015), anuran amphibians (frogs/toads) (Shen et al, 2011), and mosquitoes (Su et al, 2018), sex-specific differences in auditory sensitivity are coupled to reproduction and linked to the acoustic communication essential for courtship behavior (see also the excellent review by (Caras, 2013). Even in humans we can draw parallels between reproduction and auditory function because auditory sensitivity in women fluctuates during the menstrual cycle, with an enhanced auditory sensitivity coinciding with the time of ovulation.…”

Section: A Unif Ying Hyp Othe S Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Age‐related hearing loss: Why we need to think about sex as a biological variable

Nolan

2020

J of Neuroscience Research

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It has long been known that age‐related hearing loss (ARHL) is more common, more severe, and with an earlier onset in men compared to women. Even in the absence of confounding factors such as noise exposure, these sexdifferences in susceptibility to ARHL remain. In the last decade, insight into the pleiotrophic nature by which estrogen signaling can impact multiple signaling mechanisms to mediate downstream changes in gene expression and/or elicit rapid changes in cellular function has rapidly gathered pace, and a role for estrogen signaling in the biological pathways that confer neuroprotection is becoming undeniable. Here I review the evidence why we need to consider sex as a biological variable (SABV) when investigating the etiology of ARHL. Loss of auditory function with aging is frequency‐specific and modulated by SABV. Evidence also suggests that differences in cochlear physiology between women and men are already present from birth. Understanding the molecular basis of these sex differences in ARHL will accelerate the development of precision medicine therapies for ARHL.

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Section: Sex Differences In Cochlear Structure and Functionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Unif Ying Hyp Othe S Ismentioning

confidence: 99%

Age‐related hearing loss: Why we need to think about sex as a biological variable

Nolan

2020

J of Neuroscience Research

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“…Our study is the first report of sound sensitivity through behavioural responses in free-flying mosquitoes. We expected higher sensitivity compared with the electophysiological studies referred to above, since mosquitoes exhibit active hearing [7,47] which could be triggered only by using appropriate behaviours (e.g. not tethered, looking for males in the case of females).…”

Section: Hearing Sensitivity Of An Coluzzii Females and Malesmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…The hearing organs of males and females are tuned to 'difference tones' derived from the combined wingbeat frequencies of both sexes, discernible indirectly by convergence patterns in the wingbeat harmonics of male and uninseminated female mosq,uitoes. This acoustic behaviour has been documented in four species of medical importance (Anopheles gambiae s.l., Anopheles albimanus, Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus), plus Toxorhynchites brevipalpis and Culex pipiens [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] as well as in other flies [11].…”

Section: Mosquito Hearingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mosquito sound communication: are male swarms loud enough to attract females?

Feugère

Gibson

Manoukis

et al. 2020

Preprint

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SUMMARYThe high-pitched whine of mosquitoes in flight is produced by their wingbeats, and is heard by conspecifics, who have unsurpassed sound sensitivity among arthropods. We investigated whether female mosquitoes might use the sound of a mating swarm at long-range (several meters) to identify species-specific cues. In the laboratory we exposed free-flying An. coluzzii females to pre-recorded male An. coluzzii and An. gambiae s.s. swarms to assess female response to male flight sounds over a range of ecologically-relevant sound-levels, based on our reference recording (70-male swarm producing 20 dB SPL 0.9m away). Sound-levels tested were related to equivalent distances between the female and the male swarm for a given number of males, enabling us to infer distances over which females can hear large male swarms. Females did not respond to swarm sounds at 36±3 dB, but their flight speed increased significantly at 48±3 dB, equivalent to a distance of 0.6±0.2 m from a point-source swarm-sound produced by 1,000 males. However, this distance is less than the 1,000-male swarm radius. We show that even for the loudest swarms of 10,000 males, a female will hear an individual male at the edge of the swarm sooner or more loudly than the swarm as a whole, due to the exponential increase of sound at close-range. Therefore, females highly unlikely cannot use swarm sound to locate swarms at long-range. We conclude that mosquito acoustic communication is restricted to close-range dyad interactions.

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“…The phonotactic response is highly specific, however, with males responding only to a narrow range of frequencies [ 20 ]. Both male and female mosquitoes have extraordinarily sensitive and complex ears, but there are also significant sexual dimorphisms in auditory function and hearing-related behaviours [ 21 – 23 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing the acoustic behaviour of Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) dsxF mutants: implications for vector control

Georgiades

Bagi

et al. 2020

Parasites Vectors

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Background Release of gene-drive mutants to suppress Anopheles mosquito reproduction is a promising method of malaria control. However, many scientific, regulatory and ethical questions remain before transgenic mosquitoes can be utilised in the field. At a behavioural level, gene-drive carrying mutants should be at least as sexually attractive as the wildtype populations they compete against, with a key element of Anopheles copulation being acoustic courtship. We analysed sound emissions and acoustic preference in a doublesex mutant previously used to collapse Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) cages. Methods Anopheles rely on flight tones produced by the beating of their wings for acoustic mating communication. We assessed the impact of disrupting a female-specific isoform of the doublesex gene (dsxF) on the wing beat frequency (WBF; measured as flight tone) of males (XY) and females (XX) in homozygous dsxF− mutants (dsxF−/−), heterozygous dsxF− carriers (dsxF+/−) and G3 dsxF+ controls (dsxF+/+). To exclude non-genetic influences, we controlled for temperature and wing length. We used a phonotaxis assay to test the acoustic preferences of mutant and control mosquitoes. Results A previous study showed an altered phenotype only for dsxF−/− females, who appear intersex, suggesting that the female-specific dsxF allele is haplosufficient. We identified significant, dose-dependent increases in the WBF of both dsxF−/− and dsxF+/− females compared to dsxF+/+ females. All female WBFs remained significantly lower than male equivalents, though. Males showed stronger phonotactic responses to the WBFs of control dsxF+/+ females than to those of dsxF+/− and dsxF−/− females. We found no evidence of phonotaxis in any female genotype. No male genotypes displayed any deviations from controls. Conclusions A prerequisite for anopheline copulation is the phonotactic attraction of males towards female flight tones within mating swarms. Reductions in mutant acoustic attractiveness diminish their mating efficiency and thus the efficacy of population control efforts. Caged population assessments may not successfully reproduce natural mating scenarios. We propose to amend existing testing protocols to better reflect competition between mutants and target populations. Our findings confirm that dsxF disruption has no effect on males; for some phenotypic traits, such as female WBFs, the effects of dsxF appear dose-dependent rather than haplosufficient.

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Sex and species specific hearing mechanisms in mosquito flagellar ears

Cited by 59 publications

References 68 publications

Age‐related hearing loss: Why we need to think about sex as a biological variable

Age‐related hearing loss: Why we need to think about sex as a biological variable

Mosquito sound communication: are male swarms loud enough to attract females?

Assessing the acoustic behaviour of Anopheles gambiae (s.l.) dsxF mutants: implications for vector control

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