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

这项小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型蚊虫控制产品，既可以对抗成年病媒，也可以对抗未成熟病媒，在不依赖传统杀虫剂的情况下大幅减少病媒的数量。它将由两部分组成：一种来自植物的强效引诱剂，用于引诱成年病媒蚊子；另一种昆虫发育干扰剂，用于将幼虫锁定在永久不成熟状态，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，并减少危险的传统农药覆盖喷洒对环境的污染。这一策略可能会彻底改变整个地区的蚊虫控制计划：通过诱导目标种群中的大部分蚊子作为它们自己的控制剂递送机制，拟议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，有效地处理每个幼虫栖息地和成虫休息地点，即使在具有压倒性丰富潜在栖息地的城市地区也是如此。由于该产品吸引并污染了所有主要种类的蚊子，它将成为每年160亿美元的全球病媒控制市场的宝贵工具。第一阶段项目的技术目标旨在证明通过三种机制自动传播策略控制蚊子数量的可行性：1)接触含有干扰物的制剂可使成虫绝育；2)幼虫繁殖地在成虫来访时被干扰物污染，不能产生有活力的后代；3)在相互作用（交配）过程中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的比例。通过操纵蚊子将控制剂传递给自己的后代，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以成年为目标的化学杀虫剂的偏见，证明以幼虫为目标的措施可以以合理的成本抑制媒介种群，从而重新引起对这种替代策略的科学和商业兴趣。为了证明这一方法的可行性，第一阶段的研究将侧重于评估通过接触和/或摄入而暴露的制剂对病媒蚊子的影响；确定雌蚊将配方传播到幼虫栖息地的能力；最后，证明了所提出的自动传播策略在减少病媒种群方面的有效性。

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.