Data from: Blood meal-induced inhibition of vector-borne disease by transgenic microbiota

Vector-borne diseases account for a substantial portion of the global
disease burden; one of the deadliest of these is malaria. Common vector
control strategies have been hindered by mosquito and pathogen
resistances, and population alteration approaches using transgenic
mosquitos still have many hurdles to overcome before they can be
implemented in the field. Here we report a paratransgenic control strategy
in which the microbiota of the malaria vector mosquito Anopheles stephensi
was engineered to produce an antiplasmodial effector causing the mosquito
to become refractory to Plasmodium berghei. The midgut symbiont Asaia was
used to conditionally express the antiplasmodial effector protein scorpine
only when a blood meal was present. These blood meal inducible Asaia
strains significantly inhibit pathogen infection, and display improved
fitness compared to strains that constitutively express the antiplasmodial
effector. This strategy may allow the antiplasmodial bacterial strains to
survive and be transmitted through mosquito populations, creating an
easily implemented and enduring vector control strategy.