Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40112001›Full record

ArticleCell reports2025

Visual threat avoidance while host seeking by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.

Geoff T Meyerhof, Pratik Dhavan, Summer Blunk, Allison Bourd, Ramandeep Singh, Avinash Chandel, Craig Montell

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Cell reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Geoff T MeyerhofNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Pratik DhavanNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Summer BlunkNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Allison BourdNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Ramandeep SinghNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Avinash ChandelNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
Craig MontellNeuroscience Research Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA. Electronic address: cmontell@ucsb.edu.

Funding

Opsins and TRP channels controlling sensation and behavior in Aedes aeygptiR01AI165575 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA · PI MONTELL, CRAIG · 2021 to 2025
$2.7M
Mechanisms of visual transduction and light-driven behaviors in Aedes aegyptiR01AI169386 · NIAID · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA · PI CRAIG MONTELL · 2022 to 2026
$2.4M
Identifying the role of the ocular immune response in age-related sleep disturbancesF31EY033179 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA BARBARA · PI MEYERHOF, GEOFFREY · 2021 to 2023
$118k
NEI NIH HHS F31 EY033179NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI165575NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI169386
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The mosquito Aedes aegypti infects hundreds of millions of people annually with disease-causing viruses. When a mosquito approaches a host, the host often swats defensively. Here, we reveal the mosquito's escape behavior during host seeking in response to a threatening visual cue-a newly appearing shadow. We found that reactions to a shadow are far more aversive when it appears quickly versus slowly. Remarkably, mosquitoes evade shadows under very dim light conditions. Knockout of the TRP channel compromises the ability of mosquitoes to avoid threatening shadows, but only under high light conditions. Conversely, removing two of the five rhodopsins normally present in the compound eyes, Op1 and Op2, diminishes shadow aversion, but only under low light. Upon removal of a threatening visual cue, mosquitoes quickly re-initiate host seeking. Thus, female Aedes balance their need to host seek with visual threat avoidance by rapidly transitioning between these two behavioral states.

Indexed as

AedesAvoidance LearningEscape ReactionHost-Seeking BehaviorAnimalsFemaleLightRhodopsinRhodopsinAedes aegyptiavoidancebehaviorCP: Neurosciencehost seekingmosquitoopsinrhodopsinshadowTRP channelvision

Identifiers

PMID40112001
PMCPMC12077400

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.