Exploiting insect tyrosine metabolism for vector control: laboratory and field verification

病媒传播疾病的负担、疟疾残留传播以及对基于杀虫剂的病媒控制产生抗药性的威胁，都促使目前寻找新的病媒控制工具。该研究项目将解决一种有效和环保的化合物的使用需求，以及目前的病媒控制方法。此类化合物的一个例子是昆虫酪氨酸降解抑制剂，包括nitisinone，它被fda批准并用于治疗人类代谢性疾病。本次博士课题的具体问题有：1.；硝地西酮是一种酪氨酸代谢抑制剂，当通过血餐和/或糖餐喂给蚊子时，其灭蚊效果如何？2. 尼替西酮作为细胞内灭剂（PK/PD模型）和/或ATSB的预期疗效是什么？(澳大利亚造型)3。当作为灭蚊剂和/或ATSB使用时，与其他控制蚊子的金标准相比，尼替西酮的表现如何？该项目旨在首先使用实验室饲养的蚊子，然后使用野生种群来回答这些问题，目的是利用体外实验室数据验证和优化已经生成的预测模型。

The burden of vector-borne disease, residual malaria transmission and the threat of resistance to insecticide-based vector control all drive the current search for novel vector control tools. This research project will address the need for an effective and environmentally friendly compound for use, alongside current methods of vector control. An example of such compounds are inhibitors of insect tyrosine degradation, including nitisinone, which is FDA-approved and used for treating human metabolic diseases. The specific questions of this PhD project are: 1. What is the mosquitocidal effect of nitisinone, a tyrosine metabolism inhibitor, when fed to mosquitoes via blood meals and/or sugar meals? 2. What is the predicted efficacy of nitisinone as an endectocide (PK/PD modelling) and/or an ATSB? (ATSB modelling)3. How does nitisinone perform compared to other gold standards for mosquito control when used as endectocide and/or an ATSB? This project aims to answer these questions using first laboratory-reared mosquitoes and then wild populations, with the objective of validating and optimising predictive models that have been generated, using in-vitro laboratory data.