Abstract
Emerging resistance in malaria vectors and parasites has accelerated the development of novel control strategies such as the Sterile Insect Technique and Wolbachia-based approaches, which require large-scale mosquito rearing. These methods traditionally rely on vertebrate Blood, raising ethical and logistical concerns. This study evaluated the effects of a BLOODless™ on wing size, longevity, and Plasmodium falciparum susceptibility in Anopheles coluzzii and An. gambiae from Burkina Faso, and the Kisumu An. gambiae strain. Blood and Bloodless-reared mosquitoes were compared across seven generations. Wing size was unaffected by diet in the 3rd and 7th generations, though sex impacted size in the 3rd generation only. A diet-species interaction was detected in the 7th generation. Plasmodium falciparum infection rates were similar in the 3rd generation, but by the 6th, Blood-fed mosquitoes showed higher oocyst prevalence, though intensity remained unchanged. Infection outcomes were species-dependent only at this later stage. Longevity, initially comparable across groups, increased significantly in Bloodless-fed mosquitoes by the 7th generation. Species had no effect on survival. A Blood-free diet enables sustained mosquito rearing while preserving traits essential for malaria research, providing an ethical, effective alternative to vertebrate Blood in vector control and experimental programs.
Data availability
The data generated in this study are available as Additional file 1.
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Funding
The research received financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia and Aga-Khan Development Network (MosqDiet_FCT AGAKHAN/541725581/2019), and IHI (Training and Capacity Building Unit). J.M. and H.S. are supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT Portugal) by funds to GHTM/IHMT-NOVA (GHTM-UID GHTM UID/04413/2020). J.M. is recipient of a contract by FCT (https://doi.org/10.54499/CEECIND/00450/2017/CP1415/CT0001.
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H.S., J.M., R.V., I.S., E.B and D.F.S.H conceived and designed the present study; J.M. and R.V. produced the diet. D.F.S.H, A.M.A.P.S, and I.S. conducted the experiments, with E.B. providing supervision and overseeing the study; B.S.P. and D.F.S.H carried out the data analysis; D.F.S.H drafted the manuscript; E.B., I.S., H.S., J.M., A.D and R.V. provided critical revisions to the manuscript. All authors reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.
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The protocol of the study was approved by the Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Santé, ethics committee: A 009-2023/CEIRES/IRSS. Prior to inclusion, informed consent was obtained from the parents or legal guardian of the volunteers.
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de Sales Hien, D.F., Sare, I., Sib, A.M.A.P. et al. Effects of a bloodless diet on fitness and malaria susceptibility in Anopheles mosquitoes from Burkina Faso. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40458-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-40458-x
