A blood-free diet to sustain the Dengue vector, Aedes aegypti colonies

Anautogenous female mosquitoes require a vertebrate blood meal in order to provide essential amino acids for egg development. Currently, maintaining anautogenous mosquito culture in a laboratory setting requires using whole blood from vertebrates. A recent study by R.J. Pitts has shown that laboratory colonies of the anautogenous mosquito Aedes albopictus (Asian tiger mosquito) can be successfully maintained on a blood-free meal that supports oogenesis.

In this study we tested a similar feeding protocol for Ae. aegypti, the major vector of Dengue and yellow fever viruses.  We tested the effects of the positive control, whole blood, against its fractionated components, red blood cells (RBCs) and serum on egg deposition rates. We also tested four different buffer formulations and used bovine serum albumin (BSA) or hemoglobin as protein sources.

We found that Ae. aegypti colonies can be reared on an artificial blood-free diet. Bovine serum and BSA formulations produced comparatively similar results on egg deposition when compared to whole blood. However, the RBC and hemoglobin formulations did not support egg production and caused digestional defects.

Our results suggest that further investigation into the nutritional requirements for Ae. aegypti egg production are required in order to optimize a blood free meal for mass rearing purposes.