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Abstract
BackgroundThe success of sterile or transgenic Anopheles for malaria control depends on their mating competitiveness within wild populations. Current evidence suggests that transgenic mosquitoes have reduced fitness. One means of compensating for this fitness deficit would be to identify environmental conditions that increase their mating competitiveness, and incorporate them into laboratory rearing regimes.MethodsAnopheles gambiae larvae were allocated to three crowding treatments with the same food input per larva. Emerged males were competed against one another for access to females, and their corresponding longevity and energetic reserves measured.ResultsMales from the low-crowding treatment were much more likely to acquire the first mating. They won the first female approximately 11 times more often than those from the high-crowding treatment (Odds ratio = 11.17) and four times more often than those from the medium-crowding treatment (Odds ratio = 3.51). However, there was no overall difference in the total number of matings acquired by males from different treatments (p = 0.08). The survival of males from the low crowding treatment was lower than those from other treatments. The body size and teneral reserves of adult males did not differ between crowding treatments, but larger males were more likely to acquire mates than small individuals.ConclusionLarval crowding and body size have strong, independent effects on the mating competitiveness of adult male An. gambiae. Thus manipulation of larval crowding during mass rearing could provide a simple technique for boosting the competitiveness of sterile or transgenic male mosquitoes prior to release.
Highlights
The success of sterile or transgenic Anopheles for malaria control depends on their mating competitiveness within wild populations
Multiple insecticide resistance is emerging amongst the major malaria vectors An. gambiae [12] and Anopheles funestus [13], and there are complications associated with introduction, distribution and proper use of insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) [14,15] that indicate these strategies alone may not be sufficient to eliminate malaria transmission
In the case of a genetically modified mosquito (GMM) strategy, malaria could be reduced by fixing a resistance gene in vector populations, [21,22,23], and in the case of sterile male release, malaria could be cut by a collapse in the vector population due to a high frequency of unviable matings
Summary
The success of sterile or transgenic Anopheles for malaria control depends on their mating competitiveness within wild populations. In the case of a genetically modified mosquito (GMM) strategy, malaria could be reduced by fixing a resistance gene in vector populations, [21,22,23], and in the case of sterile male release, malaria could be cut by a collapse in the vector population due to a high frequency of unviable matings. The general failure of mosquito control programmes launched in the 1970s that aimed to reduce vector populations by releasing sterile males can be largely attributed to their poor mating competitiveness [20,24], and to a lesser extent, the dispersal of fertile males into control areas. Gaining an understanding of the ecological factors that govern Anopheles mating biology in general, and promote male competitiveness in particular, will increase the chances of success of future GMM and sterile male-based control efforts [24,25,26,33]
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