D3021: (2nd Place) Optimizing the bloodmeal alternative, SkitoSnack, for Anopheles mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are reared in research laboratories to study their physiology and vector-borne disease transmission. Blood meals are necessary to maintain laboratory-raised mosquito cultures of anautogenous species. Blood is often sourced from live animals which is costly and has a short shelf life. In addition, there are ethical, economic, and safety challenges for using blood in laboratory settings. Hence, there is a demand for alternatives to bloodmeals that are easy to use, have long shelf lives, and can effectively support mosquito culture. SkitoSnack is a blood meal replacement that has been previously developed to rear Aedes mosquitoes. SkitoSnack’s nutritional content is analogous to that of vertebrate blood and can stimulate physiological processes in Aedes mosquitoes such as engorgement, oogenesis, and egg deposition. However, Anopheles mosquitoes do not engorge on this SkitoSnack recipe. Therefore, in this study, we modified SkitoSnack for the rearing of Anopheles mosquitoes. By changing single components of the original recipe, we developed several variations of this diet that are suitable for Anopheles stephensi culture. We measured engorgement rates, egg numbers, and hatch rates to identify an optimized version of SkitoSnack for Anopheles. Hence, in this study we present a modified SkitoSnack as a cruelty-free, sustainable, effective, and affordable blood meal alternative that can support laboratory-reared Anopheles mosquitoes.

Keywords: Anopheles, Artifical diet, SkitoSnack, Mosquito