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Unlike unmodified males, however, the male mosquitoes lacking fruitless were attracted to the body odor of a person’s arm (like females). The genetically altered male mosquitoes became unable to mate successfully, but – similar to unmodified males – still preferred sugar water over blood when feeding. removed the fruitless gene from Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Yet it remains to be seen whether the fruitless gene has any effect in mosquitoes, where sex differences relate to feeding habits. For example, a gene called fruitless controls courtship behaviors in male flies and silkworms, and is thought to be the ‘master regulator’ of male sexual behavior across insects. In other insects, some of the genes that control mating behaviors that depend on sex have been identified. Unfortunately, the genes that control mosquito feeding behaviors have not been well studied. Determining which genes are linked to feeding behaviors in mosquitoes could allow researchers to genetically engineer females so they no longer bite people, thus stopping the spread of these diseases. Therefore, female mosquitoes are the ones responsible for transmitting the viruses that cause certain blood-borne diseases such as dengue fever or Zika. Mosquitoes are an example: while female mosquitoes feed on humans, and are attracted to a person’s body heat and odor, male mosquitoes have little interest in biting humans for their blood. However, there are a few species where behavioral differences between the sexes are not connected to mating. Most examples of sexual dimorphism, such as elaborate visual displays or courtship behaviors, are linked to mating.

The bushy mane of a male lion, for example, is nowhere to be seen on a female lioness, and only male peacocks have extravagant tails. Sexual dimorphism is a phenomenon among animals, insects and plants where the two sexes of a species show differences in body size, physical features or colors.

Our results highlight an unexpected repurposing of a master regulator of male-specific sexual behavior to control one module of female-specific blood-feeding behavior in a deadly vector of infectious diseases. Remarkably, fruitless males also gain strong attraction to a live human host, a behavior that wild-type males never display, suggesting that male mosquitoes possess the central or peripheral neural circuits required to host-seek and that removing fruitless reveals this latent behavior in males. We generated fruitless mutant mosquitoes and showed that males failed to mate, confirming the ancestral function of this gene in male sexual behavior. The fruitless gene is sex-specifically spliced and encodes a BTB zinc-finger transcription factor proposed to be a master regulator of male courtship and mating behavior across insects. Only females are attracted to and obtain a blood-meal from humans, which they use to stimulate egg production. Calvo lives in Orange with his wife Andrea, a fellow music teacher and Chapman graduate, and their two children, Isabel and Joseph.The Aedes aegypti mosquito shows extreme sexual dimorphism in feeding. He went on to complete a Master of Arts degree in Musicology from California State University Long Beach. Calvo is a Chapman University Alumnus, having earned Bachelor of Music degrees in Music Education and Choral Conducting. He is a member of the American Musicological Society and the American Choral Directors Association. Calvo has worked on Hollywood films, and his original compositions are frequently commissioned by local school districts.

As a conductor his choirs and orchestras have received critical acclaim in the U. Calvo has taught at the high school, community college, and university levels, and he regularly delivers pre-concert lectures for Long Beach City College Symphony Orchestra. Industry Alliances and Commercializationįrancisco Calvo is highly respected in Southern California as a conductor, pianist, composer/arranger, and musicologist.Īs a musicologist, Mr.California’s Gold Exhibit and Huell Howser Archives.