Buy the world a coke and keep it mosquito free

Mosquito-borne illnesses, which are caused by pathogens that are spread through the bites of infected mosquitoes, are among the most significant infectious diseases worldwide and among the most challenging to prevent and control. The long-term goal of our research program is to combat mosquitoes through the transfer of eco-friendly RNAi-based mosquito gene silencing from the bench to the field, resulting in the development of a new class of eco-friendly pesticides to combat insecticide resistance. The proposed investigation will test the hypothesis, which is supported by strong preliminary data, that interfering RNA targeting vital mosquito genes, which has been produced in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, can be effectively delivered to Aedes, Anopheles, and Culex mosquitoes in soda, resulting in high levels of mosquito mortality. The objective of the proposed study is to develop the yeast endless soda (YES) feeding station, an innovative soda bottle-based system for deployment of RNAi yeast insecticides as attractive targeted sugar baits (ATSBs). Preliminary studies suggest that the yeast-soda combination is more attractive to mosquitoes than existing sugar bait lures, enabling it to better lure mosquitoes away from feeding on natural sugar sources. Moreover, unlike insecticides that are presently being deployed in other ATSB systems, the RNAi yeasts to be evaluated in the proposed investigation are specific to mosquitoes, posing little if any threat to non-target organisms. Soda in plastic bottles and yeast are inexpensive and readily distributed worldwide, making these reagents excellent selections for the development of these innovative ATSB bait stations. The project plan includes the following aims: 1) Generation of an eco-friendly soda and RNAi-based yeast ATSB as a universal mosquito lure that selectively kills mosquitoes and 2) Development and evaluation of a prototype YES feeding station. The expected outcome is the development of a consumer accepted ATSB station that can be further evaluated in field trials and eventually deployed globally to reduce the worldwide mosquito burden. Project Number: 1R21AI182680-01A1 | Fiscal Year: 2025 | NIH Institute/Center: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) | Principal Investigator: Molly Scheel | Institution: INDIANA UNIVERSITY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANAPOLIS, IN | Award Amount: $433,303 | Activity Code: R21 | Study Section: Transmission of Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases Study Section [TVZ] View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/1R21AI18268001A1