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

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是开发一种有效的新蚊子控制产品，对成年和未成熟的媒介都有效，在不依赖传统杀虫剂的情况下大幅减少媒介种群的规模。它将由两个部分组成：一种来自植物的有效引诱剂，用于引诱成虫媒介蚊子；另一种是昆虫发育干扰物，它将幼虫锁定在永久未成熟状态，最终导致死亡，并使暴露在外的成虫不育。该产品将减少蚊媒疾病在世界各地的影响，并通过覆盖喷洒危险的常规杀虫剂来减少环境污染。这一战略可以彻底改变整个区域的蚊子控制计划：通过诱导目标种群中的很大一部分蚊子充当它们自己的灭蚊剂输送机制，拟议的产品显著增加了处理区域的有效大小，使有效地治疗每一个幼虫栖息地和成虫休息地在操作上是可行的，即使在潜在栖息地极其丰富的城市地区也是如此。由于该产品能吸引并污染所有关键种类的蚊子，它将成为每年160亿美元的全球病媒控制市场的宝贵工具。该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种群的可行性：1)接触含有干扰物的配方使成虫不育；2)在成虫访问期间被干扰物污染的幼虫繁殖场所将不会产生可存活的后代；以及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不育个体在种群中的比例和处理区域中非生产性的幼虫栖息地。通过操纵蚊子将防控剂传递给自己的后代并限制成年种群的生殖能力，该项目将有助于克服长期以来支持以成虫为靶标的化学杀虫剂的偏见，通过展示以幼虫为靶标的措施可以以合理的成本抑制媒介种群，重新唤起人们对此类替代策略的科学和商业兴趣。为了证明这一方法的可行性，第一阶段研究将侧重于评估该制剂在通过接触和/或摄取发生接触时对媒介蚊子的影响；确定雌性蚊子将该制剂运送到幼虫栖息地的能力；以及最后，在流行现场环境中展示拟议的自动传播战略在减少媒介种群方面的效果。

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.