{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Vector Signals","title":"Engineered Bacteria Combat Concurrent Malaria and Arbovirus Transmission (March 2025)","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/13bdc9a2\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":1339,"description":"Briefing Document: Engineered Symbionts for Concurrent Malaria and Arbovirus Transmission Control\nCitation: Hu, W., Gao, H., Cui, C. et al. Harnessing engineered symbionts to combat concurrent malaria and arboviruses transmission. Nat Commun 16, 2104 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57343-2Dates: Received - 27 July 2024 | Accepted - 19 February 2025 | Published - 01 March 2025Prepared for: Saleh Lab\nExecutive Summary:This research presents a novel paratransgenesis strategy utilizing engineered symbiotic bacteria (Serratia AS1) in mosquitoes to simultaneously combat the transmission of malaria parasites (transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes) and arboviruses like dengue and Zika (transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes). The study demonstrates the successful engineering of Serratia AS1 to express anti-Plasmodium and anti-arbovirus effector proteins under the control of a blood-induced promoter. Both laboratory and semi-natural field-cage experiments show that these engineered bacteria effectively spread through mosquito populations and significantly inhibit pathogen infections in both Anopheles and Aedes mosquitoes, including reducing co-infection rates of dengue and Zika viruses. This work lays the groundwork for a promising tool to address the growing challenge of concurrent mosquito-borne disease outbreaks.Main Themes and Important Ideas/Facts:The Growing Threat of Concurrent Mosquito-Borne Diseases:More than half of the global population lives in areas at risk of contracting two or more major mosquito-borne diseases.The geographic distributions of Anopheles (malaria) and Aedes (arboviruses) mosquitoes are increasingly overlapping, leading to co-existence and potential co-infection scenarios.Co-infections of malaria and arboviruses (dengue, Zika, chikungunya) have been reported in various regions.Co-circulation and simultaneous co-infection of multiple arboviruses are also prevalent.These concurrent infections pose complex challenges for disease surveillance,...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/qJYlR2Phxe3IMx6KHnsmKp1D71DIqj8LuYMSrDKo9Jc/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82MDgx/MDIyNmJkNWU5YmIz/NzJhZDVmZjYyOGZi/NTgxMi53ZWJw.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}