Identification of human skin microbiome odorants that manipulate mosquito landing behavior via Nature

The resident human skin microbiome is responsible for the production of most of the human scents that are attractive to mosquitoes.

Hence, engineering the human skin microbiome to synthesize less of mosquito attractants or produce repellents could potentially reduce bites and prevent the transmission of deadly mosquito-borne pathogens.

In order to further characterize the human skin volatilome, we quantified the major volatiles of 39 strains of skin commensals (Staphylococci and Corynebacterium).

Importantly, to validate the behavioral activity of these volatiles, we first assessed landing behavior triggered by human skin volatiles.

These findings demonstrate that carbon dioxide and L-(+)-lactic acid change the valence of other skin volatiles towards mosquito landing behavior.

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