Biologists decipher a key piece of the odor-detection puzzle in flies, mosquitoes

(University of California - Riverside) Biologists at the University of California, Riverside have discovered surprisingly that the complex odor-detecting machinery of the fruit fly Drosophila is heavily influenced by one specific odor receptor. This same receptor also exists in crop-damaging fly species and disease-carrying mosquitoes, opening the possibility for new chemical cocktails to control pests and render people "invisible" to mosquitoes.