Data from: The potential for fungal biopesticides to reduce malaria transmission under diverse environmental conditions

1.The effectiveness of conventional malaria vector control is being threatened by the spread of insecticide resistance. One promising alternative to chemicals is the use of naturally-occurring insect-killing fungi. Numerous laboratory studies have shown that isolates of fungal pathogens such as Beauveria bassiana can infect and kill adult mosquitoes, including those resistant to chemical insecticides. 2. Unlike chemical insecticides, fungi may take up to a week or more to kill mosquitoes following exposure. This slow kill speed can still reduce malaria transmission because the malaria parasite itself takes at least eight days to complete its development within the mosquito. However, both fungal virulence and parasite development rate are strongly temperature-dependent, so it is possible that biopesticide efficacy could vary across different transmission environments. 3. We examined the virulence of a candidate fungal isolate against two key malaria vectors at temperatures from 10–34 °C. Regardless of temperature, the fungus killed more than 90% of exposed mosquitoes within the predicted duration of the malarial extrinsic incubation period, a result that was robust to realistic diurnal temperature variation. 4. We then incorporated temperature sensitivities of a suite of mosquito, parasite and fungus life-history traits that are important determinants of malaria transmission into a stage-structured malaria transmission model. The model predicted that, at achievable daily fungal infection rates, fungal biopesticides have the potential to deliver substantial reductions in the density of malaria-infectious mosquitoes across all temperatures representative of malaria transmission environments. 5. Synthesis and applications. Our study combines empirical data and theoretical modelling to prospectively evaluate the potential of fungal biopesticides to control adult malaria vectors. Our results suggest that Beauveria bassiana could be a potent tool for malaria control and support further development of fungal biopesticides to manage infectious disease vectors.1. 杀虫剂抗药性的蔓延正威胁着传统疟疾媒介控制措施的有效性。一类颇具应用前景的化学药剂替代方案是使用天然存在的杀虫真菌。诸多实验室研究已证实，诸如球孢白僵菌(Beauveria bassiana)这类真菌病原体的分离株可侵染并杀死成年蚊子，包括对化学杀虫剂产生抗药性的种群。 2. 与化学杀虫剂不同，真菌在接触蚊子后可能需要长达一周甚至更久才能将其杀死。尽管致死速度较慢，但这类真菌仍可降低疟疾传播风险——因为疟原虫本身需要至少8天才能在蚊体内完成发育。不过，真菌毒力与疟原虫发育速率均强烈依赖温度，因此生物农药的防控效果可能因不同传播环境而异。 3. 本研究针对10℃至34℃的温度区间，检测了一株候选真菌分离株对两种主要疟疾媒介的毒力。无论处于何种温度条件下，该真菌均可在预测的疟疾外在潜伏期内，使90%以上的接触蚊子死亡，且该结果在贴合实际的昼夜温度波动下依然稳健。 4. 随后，我们将影响疟疾传播的关键蚊类、疟原虫及真菌生活史性状的温度敏感性，整合至一个阶段结构疟疾传播模型(stage-structured malaria transmission model)中。该模型预测，在可实现的每日真菌感染率下，真菌生物农药有望在所有代表疟疾传播环境的温度区间内，大幅降低携带感染性疟原虫的蚊子种群密度。 5. 综合与应用：本研究结合实验数据与理论建模，前瞻性评估了真菌生物农药防控成年疟疾媒介的潜力。研究结果表明，球孢白僵菌可作为疟疾防控的有效工具，支持进一步开发真菌生物农药以管控传染病媒介。