GoKawiilCryo-EM reveals how mosquito smell receptors detect carboxylic acids
Researchers used cryo-electron microscopy to solve structures of the IR8a-IR75k receptor complex from the malaria mosquito Anopheles stephensi, capturing it in ligand-free, ligand-bound, and open-channel states. The structures show how nonanoic and octanoic acid binding reshapes a pocket in IR75k, triggering domain closure that is mechanically transmitted to open the channel's pore, a mechanism confirmed through molecular dynamics simulations and electrophysiology experiments.
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These mosquito ionotropic receptors help drive host-seeking behavior linked to disease transmission, so understanding their atomic-level gating could inform new repellents or control agents that disrupt smell-based detection of humans. The work suggests that ligand chain length and carboxylate geometry determine specificity, which researchers say could guide rational design of molecules targeting these receptors.
- First atomic-resolution structures of a mosquito IR8a-IR75k olfactory receptor complex in multiple functional states
- Ligand binding to IR75k closes its binding domain, mechanically opening the ion channel pore via helix displacement
- Findings could inform design of compounds to block mosquito host-seeking, relevant to malaria control
Source: nature.com — Xu, 2026-10-14
Published there as: “Structural basis of ligand recognition and gating in mosquito IRs”
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