Inducing 'kidney' failure in mosquitoes.

• Position: Pest Control - Brief article

A chemical that causes "kidney" failure in mosquitoes could pave the way for the development of new insecticides to fight deadly mosquito-transmitted diseases such as malaria and dengue fever has been discovered by an Ohio State University researcher and his collaborators.

"Our team has found a chemical that interferes with the function of a class of mosquito proteins, called potassium channels, and which compromises the ability of mosquitoes to excrete urine," reports Peter Piermarini, assistant professor of entomology at the Agricultural Research and Development Center on the Wooster campus.

"In addition to blocking their kidney function, the chemical leaves mosquitoes unable to fly and, in some cases, severely bloated, all of which leads to a shorter life span."

The research is the result of a collaborative project between Piermarini and the laboratories of Jerod Denton at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn., and Klaus Beyenbach at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

"Female mosquitoes rely on their kidneys (called Malpighian...