Figure 3. Effect of OBP gene knockdown on mosquito blood-feeding behavior.

A behavioral feeding assay was performed 4 days post-silencing of OBPs 10 and 22. Mosquitoes were offered an anesthetized mouse and observed individually for 400 seconds. The following parameters were measured and are represented here: (A) Probing propensity: the percentage of mosquitoes that probed within the observation period; (B) Probing initiation time: the time from the introduction of the mouse until the mosquito starts to probe; (C) Probing time: the time from the initial insertion of the mouthparts in the skin to the initial engorgement of blood. The data are a pool of six biological replicates, and p values were determined with the Mann-Whitney U test (*, p<0.05).