Fig. 5

Role of Opsins in mosquito photobehavior. a Effect of eye occlusion on mosquito photobehavior. b Effect of eye occlusion on Ae. albopictus biting preference (Mock, n = 104 females; Blindfolded, n = 65 females). Data is presented as the number of fully engorged mosquitoes that bitted host in illuminated or shaded environment relative to the total number of mosquitoes released. Two-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test was performed for testing among different groups. Different lowercase letters are significantly different. Experimental groups denoted by “ab” are not significantly different from either “a” or “b” groups. c Heatmap showing expression of opsin genes in Ae. albopictus across developmental stages. Expression levels of opsin genes in mixed-gender first instar larvae (1st), mixed-gender second instar larvae (2nd), mixed-gender third instar larvae (3rd), mixed-gender forth instar larvae (4th), mixed-gender pupae, adult females, and adult males. n = 50 for first and second instar larvae; n = 30 for third instar larvae; n = 20 for forth instar larvae and pupae; n = 3 for adult female and male. d Opsin gene expression of adult females at 1 day and 7 days after eclosion. Expression levels of opsin genes were normalized against Ae. albopictus actin (AALF010408). n = 9 females per group. e, f Effects of knocking down opsin genes on mosquito photobehavior. e Preference index for shaded area upon knocking down indicated opsin genes in Ae. albopictus (dsGFP, n = 328 females; dsAalbOpsin1, n = 103 females; dsAalbOpsin2, n = 166 females; dsAalbOpsin8, n = 88 females; dsAalbOpsin9, n = 95 females). f Effect of knocking down Opsin1 on Ae. aegypti photobehavior (dsGFP, n = 126 females; dsAaegOpsin1, n = 72 females). a–f Data are presented as mean ± SEM. Total number of female mosquitoes tested for each group was indicated by n in the figure. Photobehavior was analyzed using one sample t test. a, d, f Unpaired t test was performed for testing among different groups. e One-way ANOVA, followed by Tukey’s multiple comparisons test was performed for testing among different groups. *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001, ns: not significant