Two neuropeptides that promote blood feeding in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes

Female mosquitoes have parallel appetites for plant sugars and vertebrate blood. Since blood is necessary for egg development, females must balance their food-choice depending on their reproductive state. Understanding this behavioural plasticity is crucial, as it directly influences disease transmission. In this study, we describe this plasticity in Anopheles stephensi, which is endemic to the Indian sub-continent and West Asia but is now expanding into Horn of Africa putting millions more people at risk of malaria. Through transcriptomics, gene knockdown assays, and transcript expression analyses we find that neuronally expressed neuropeptides sNPF and RYamide together promote this blood hunger.