Figure 1

The blood feeding behavior of A. gambiae is under circadian control. A. A time course study of blood feeding propensity of mosquitoes maintained at normal conditions (LD 12:12) and at DD for 48 h. Blood was provided every 3 h, for 10 minutes and the percentage of mosquitoes that fed was plotted over time. The LD conditions of light on (ZT0) and light off (ZT12) are indicated with the white and black boxes, respectively at the bottom of the graph. The DD mosquito groups were maintained in darkness throughout the study. B. The blood feeding pattern for 24 h after mosquito was exposed to light pulses for 5 min (shown by an arrow) at 19.30 hours in both LD and DD conditions. C. The blood feeding pattern for 24 h, after mosquitoes were exposed to a 2 hr light pulse (shown by a white box) before 19.30 hours in both LD and DD conditions. Blood was provided every 3 h for 10 minutes and the percentage of mosquitoes that fed was plotted over time. The standard error bars are indicated in all the graphs.