Team:Mingdao/Human Practices 2-3-1
Mosquito Behavior
Interview: Dr. Hau-You Tzeng Date: Apr. 10 & Jul. 23, 2018 Location: Mingdao High School & NCHU Reflection: Mosquito preferences, safety issue
1st Meeting:
Date: Apr. 10, 2018 Location: Mingdao Bio Lab
Why: To know more about the mosquito biology and insect-borne diseases
How: We invited Dr. Tzeng, who is a mosquito specialist in Department of Entomology in National Chung Hsing University (NCHU), to introduce insect-borne diseases as well as answer some questions about our project. What:
In the beginning, Dr. Tzeng taught us how to distinguish different kinds of mosquitoes. 1. The time peak of sucking blood
For example, Egyptian Aedes mosquito’s peak of blood sucking behavior is from 2 PM to 5PM in the afternoon. 2. Different ways of spreading diseases by different kinds of mosquitoes
For example, mosquito Aedes aegypti spreads dengue fever.
Later, Dr. Tzeng introduced 11 kinds of main blood-sucking type Arthropoda. He explained the definition of insect-borne disease, which includes biological propagation and physical propagation. In addition, he talked about some insect-borne diseases. For instance, Zika virus, Lymphatic Filariasis, and so on.
Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection.This may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characteristic skin rash.
Aedes albopictus is characterized by the white bands on its legs and body. It's native to the tropical and subtropical areas of Southeast Asia. Also, it is an important vector for the transmission of many viral pathogens, including the yellow fever,dengue fever, as well as Chikungunya fever.
Culex is what bites people at night. Their peak of blooducking is from 2 o’clock to 5 o’clock at the afternoon. Reflection:
Through this experience, we learned the background knowledge of mosquitoes, which plays a key role in our whole project and experiments. Questions and Answers: Q: How to feed mosquitoes in the laboratory? A: In general, we use a 30*30*30 cubic centimeters box. And there’s some sugar water taken as food. If you want to change the peak of blood sucking, you can change photoperiod. Q: For the purpose of bleeding, mosquitoes needs to bloodsucking. However, how do mosquitoes in laboratory bleed? A: Most of them suck mouse’s blood. But different kinds of mosquitoes have their own blood-sucking habitat. Q: How long can mosquitoes that feeds sugar water live? A: About two months. Q: If mosquitoes suck human’s blood, will it violate any rule? A: All of mosquitoes in laboratory are domestication. Besides, we usually let them starve about 12 hours. Therefore, mosquitoes will accept mouse’s blood. Q: How much blood can mosquitoes suck as much as it can? A: About 1 micro liter. Thanks to Doctor Tzeng, we learned lots of precious lessons about mosquitoes.
2nd Meeting:
Date: Jul. 23, 2018 Location: the mosquito lab at National Chung Hsing University
Why: To understand how to rear mosquitoes in a lab and the safety issues manipulating GE mosquitoes
How: In the afternoon we headed to NCHU and visited Dr. Tseng, who had visited us in Mingdao High School not long before. We visited his mosquito rearing room and realized how to do a mosquito experiment. What:
There are two mosquito rearing laboratories in Taiwan. One is here in NCHU and the other is in Centers for Disease Control. There are six different species of mosquitoes in the lab of NCHU. Some are from Tainan, others are from Kaohsiung, still others are from other countries. Each species has its unique habit of sucking blood. Below are some commonly seen species: 1. Aedes albopictus: White-spotted mosquitoes are a kind of vector mosquitoes. They are blood-engorged mosquitoes which would suck blood to the fullest at once. That’s why there are few people infected by these mosquitoes. You can easily kill Aedes albopictus when its sucking blood too. 2. Aedes aegypti: Yellow fever mosquitoes are also a kind of vector mosquitoes. They have to suck 3.8 people in average to reach to its maximum allowable blood draw volumes, so that’s why there are more people infected by these mosquitoes. They will fly away when sucking blood if you tried to kill them. 3. Culex annulus: These mosquitoes will suck blood during nighttime. You can prepare a bottle of alcohol to kill it.
Then, Dr. Tzeng used a mosquito suction device to transfer mosquitoes from his rearing cage to demonstrate how to manipulate mosquitoes. He also taught us how to put in and take out things from the cage preventing the mosquitoes flying away. Next, he taught us the way to distinguish male and female mosquitoes. Reflection:
We learned how to rear mosquitoes in a lab and how to manipulate the experiment using mosquitoes. This helps us in prototype design and experiments using mosquito cells. Furthermore, Dr. Tzeng discuss the safety of using GE mosquitoes by cutting their wings or genetically modifying the wing development gene.
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