SBIR Phase I: Enlisting Adult Mosquitoes to Combat Mosquito-Borne Diseases

这一小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是开发一种有效的新蚊子控制产品，对成年和未成熟的病媒都有效，在不依赖传统杀虫剂的情况下大幅减少病媒种群的规模。它将由两个组成部分组成：一个是引诱成年病媒蚊子的强效植物源引诱剂，另一个是昆虫发育干扰剂，它将幼虫锁定在永久的不成熟状态，最终导致死亡，并使暴露的成虫不育。该产品将减少世界各地蚊媒疾病的影响，并减少有害传统杀虫剂的覆盖喷雾对环境的污染。这一策略可以彻底改变整个地区的蚊子控制计划：通过诱导目标人群中的大部分蚊子作为控制剂的自身递送机制，所提出的产品大大增加了处理区域的有效面积，使其在操作上可行，以有效地处理每个幼虫栖息地和成虫休息场所，即使在具有压倒性丰富的潜在栖息地的城市地区。由于该产品能吸引并污染所有关键种类的蚊子，因此它将成为每年160亿美元的全球病媒控制市场的宝贵工具。该第一阶段项目的技术目标旨在证明通过三种机制控制蚊子种群的自动传播策略的可行性：1）暴露于含有干扰剂的制剂使成年人绝育; 2）在成虫访问期间被干扰物污染的幼虫繁殖地将不会产生有活力的后代; 3）在相互作用（交配）期间在成虫之间传递的干扰物增加了种群中不育个体的比例和处理区域中非生产性幼虫栖息地。通过操纵蚊子将控制剂传递给它们自己的后代并限制成年种群的繁殖能力，该项目将有助于克服长期以来对成年目标化学杀虫剂的偏见，证明针对幼虫的措施可以以合理的成本用于抑制病媒种群，重新唤起科学和商业对这种替代战略的兴趣。为了证明这一方法的可行性，第一阶段研究将侧重于评估当通过接触和/或摄入发生接触时制剂对病媒蚊子的影响;确定雌蚊将制剂传递到幼虫栖息地的能力;最后，证明拟议的自动传播策略在地方病现场环境中减少病媒种群的功效。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will be to develop an effective new mosquito control product that works against both adult and immature vectors, drastically reducing the size of the vector population without reliance on conventional insecticides. It will consist of two components: a potent plant-derived attractant to lure adult vector mosquitoes and an insect development disruptor that locks larvae in a permanent state of immaturity, eventually resulting in death, and also renders exposed adults infertile. This product will reduce the impacts of mosquito-borne illnesses around the world, and reduce environmental contamination by cover sprays of hazardous conventional pesticides. This strategy could revolutionize area-wide mosquito control programs: by inducing a large proportion of mosquitoes within the target population to act as their own delivery mechanism for the control agent, the proposed product substantially increases the effective size of the treated area, making it operationally viable to effectively treat every larval habitat and adult resting site, even in urban areas with an overwhelming abundance of potential habitats. Because this product attracts and contaminates all key species of mosquitoes, it will become an invaluable tool for the $16B/yr global vector control market.The technical objectives in this Phase I project are designed to demonstrate feasibility of an auto-dissemination strategy to control mosquito populations via three mechanisms: 1) exposure to the formulation containing the disruptor sterilizes adults; 2) larval breeding sites contaminated by the disruptor during adult visits will produce no viable offspring; and 3) the disruptor passed between adults during interactions (mating) increases the proportion of sterile individuals in the population and unproductive larval habitats in the treated area. By manipulating mosquitoes to deliver the control agent to their own offspring and restricting the reproductive capacity of the adult population, this project will help to overcome the long historical prejudice in favor of adult-targeting chemical insecticides by demonstrating that larval-targeted measures can be used to suppress vector populations at reasonable cost, renewing scientific and commercial interest in such alternative strategies. To demonstrate feasibility of this approach, Phase I research will focus on evaluating the effects of the formulation on vector mosquitoes when exposure occurs through contact and/or ingestion; determining the capacity of female mosquitoes to deliver the formulation to larval habitats; and finally, demonstrating the efficacy of the proposed auto-dissemination strategy in reducing vector populations in an endemic field setting.