A new generation of mosquito repellents would soon be in the
market, if a recent paper in Nature is any indication. Anandshankar Ray and
others report that they have identified the specific receptor in the antenna of
the fruit fly that responds to a common insect repellent. Then, using
computational methods, they screened more than 400,000 molecules that could
potentially activate the receptor. And identified more than 100 that could.
Then they selected the ones that have minimum unwanted
effects on human beings and tested for their ability to repel mosquitoes. Four
of them were found most successful while not affecting humans at all. In fact,
they had a mild aroma of grapes. Moreover, they did not dissolve plastics and
are therefore more amenable to packaging compared to the existing mosquito
repellents and less costly to produce.
Scientists speculate that the repellents may have applications in controlling
vector borne diseases and agricultural pests.
Nature(2013) doi:10.1038/nature12594, Published online 02 October 2013
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