Harnessing engineered symbionts to combat concurrent malaria and arboviruses transmission

Wenqian Hu, Han Gao, Chunlai Cui, Lihua Wang, Yiguan Wang, Yifei Li, Fang Li, Yitong Zheng, Tianyu Xia and Sibao Wang ()
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Wenqian Hu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Han Gao: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Chunlai Cui: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Lihua Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yiguan Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yifei Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Fang Li: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yitong Zheng: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Tianyu Xia: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Sibao Wang: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-13

Abstract: Abstract Concurrent malaria and arbovirus infections pose significant public health challenges in tropical and subtropical regions, demanding innovative control strategies. Here, we describe a strategy that employs multifunctional engineered symbiotic bacteria to suppress concurrent transmission of malaria parasites, dengue, and Zika viruses by various vector mosquitoes. The symbiotic bacterium Serratia AS1, which efficiently spreads through Anopheles and Aedes populations, is engineered to simultaneously produce anti-Plasmodium and anti-arbovirus effector proteins controlled by a selected blood-induced promoter. Laboratory and outdoor field-cage studies show that the multifunctional engineered symbiotic strains effectively inhibit Plasmodium infection in Anopheles mosquitoes and arbovirus infection in Aedes mosquitoes. Our findings provide the foundation for the use of engineered symbiotic bacteria as a powerful tool to combat the concurrent transmission of malaria and arbovirus diseases.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57343-2

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