Intrusion in mosquito mating could prevent malaria: Study

In a study done on a species of mosquito, anopheles gambiae, responsible for causing the deadly disease in Africa, scientists found that these mosquitoes copulate only once in their lifetime.

Therefore, an intrusion in their reproductive process could lower the risk of malaria, which kills nearly a million people worldwide each year, they said.

Mating process of mosquitoes
For mating, the male mosquito transfers his sperm to the female mosquito followed by a solid mass of proteins and seminal fluids known as a mating plug.

The mating is successful if the male mosquito is able to fasten his sperm inside the female storage organ. The correct placement of the sperm as well as the mating plug enables the female insects to fertilize their eggs.

However, if the mating plug is not found, the sperm is not stored properly, which interrupts fertilization process and the insects cannot reproduce.

Removal of mating plug could knock out fertilization
A team from the Imperial College in London carried out a lab experiment and examined the composition of the mating plug of mosquitoes.

They observed that an interaction between an enzyme called transglutaminase and proteins present in the male mosquito's seminal fluid cause the fluid to thicken into a gelatinous solid mass--the mating plug.

It was found that when the enzyme was removed from the seminal fluid of the male mosquitoes in the lab, the mating plug could not be formed.

This implied that the sperm could not be sealed inside the female, thus hindering the reproduction when the insects copulated.

Lead researcher Flaminia Catteruccia of Imperial's life sciences department said, "We have shown that the male mating plug is not a simple barrier to insemination from rival males, as has been previously suggested.

"Instead, we discovered that the plug plays an important role in allowing the female to successfully store sperm in the correct way inside her, and as such is vital for successful reproduction.

"Removing or interfering with the mating plug renders copulation ineffective. This discovery could be used to develop new ways of controlling populations of A. gambiae mosquitoes, to limit the spread of malaria."

More research required
Scientists also outlined the need for more research into the findings to devise potential ways to combat the disease.

They are anticipating that if the process is developed for use, in form of spray or insecticide, it could "effectively induce sterility in female mosquitoes in the wild.”

Findings of the study are published in the journal PLoS Bilogy.