The genetic basis of host preference and indoor resting behavior in the major African malaria vector, An. arabiensis

Malaria transmission is dependent on the propensity of Anopheles mosquitoes to bite humans (anthropophily) instead of other dead end hosts. Recent increases in the usage of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets (LLINs) in Africa have been associated with reductions in highly anthropophilic vectors such as Anopheles gambiae s.s., leaving more zoophilic species such as Anopheles arabiensis as the most prominent remaining source of transmission in many settings. An. arabiensis appears to be more of a generalist in terms of host preference and resting behavior, which may be due to phenotypic plasticity or segregating allelic variation. To investigate the genetic basis of host preference and resting behavior in An. arabiensis we sequenced and analyzed . CC-BY 4.0 International license peer-reviewed) is the author/funder. It is made available under a The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not . http://dx.doi.org/10.1101/044701 doi: bioRxiv preprint first posted online Mar. 24, 2016;