Abstract

Public health research and vector control frequently require the rearing of large numbers of vector mosquitoes. All target vector mosquito species are anautogenous, meaning that females require vertebrate blood for egg production. Vertebrate blood, however, is costly, with a short shelf life. To overcome these constraints, we have developed SkitoSnack, an artificial blood meal replacement for the mosquito Aedes aegypti, the vector of dengue, Zika and chikungunya virus. SkitoSnack contains bovine serum albumin and hemoglobin as protein source as well as egg yolk and a bicarbonate buffer. SkitoSnack-raised females had comparable life history traits as blood-raised females. Mosquitoes reared from SkitoSnack-fed females had similar levels of infection and dissemination when orally challenged with dengue virus type 2 (DENV-2) and significantly lower infection with DENV-4. When SkitoSnack was used as a vehicle for DENV-2 delivery, blood-raised and SkitoSnack-raised females were equally susceptible. The midgut microbiota differed significantly between mosquitoes fed on SkitoSnack and mosquitoes fed on blood. By rearing 20 generations of Aedes exclusively on SkitoSnack, we have proven that this artificial diet can replace blood in mosquito mass rearing.

Details

Title
The Effect of SkitoSnack, an Artificial Blood Meal Replacement, on Aedes aegypti Life History Traits and Gut Microbiota
Author
Gonzales, Kristina K 1 ; Rodriguez, Stacy D 1 ; Hae-Na, Chung 1 ; Kowalski, Margaret 1 ; Vulcan, Julia 1 ; Moore, Emily L 1 ; Li, Yiyi 2 ; Willette, Stephanie M 3 ; Kandel, Yashoda 1 ; Van Voorhies, Wayne A 4 ; F Omar Holguin 5 ; Hanley, Kathryn A 6 ; Hansen, Immo A 7 

 Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
 Department of Computer Science, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
 Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
 Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
 Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA; Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
 Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA; Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
 Department of Biology, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA; Institute of Applied Biosciences, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA; Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, USA 
Pages
1-14
Publication year
2018
Publication date
Jul 2018
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2074116109
Copyright
© 2018. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.