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Student 10-Minute Presentation Competition

Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology

Student Competition

Student

Grad 10-min Competition: MUVE, Vector Biology

Pantothenate manipulation in the malaria vector Anopheles stephensi and its effects on Plasmodium infection

Monday, November 10, 2025
12:06 PM - 12:18 PM Pacific
Location: Oregon Convention Center, Portland Ballroom 252, OCC
Oral Presentation Student Competition
Malaria is caused by infection with Plasmodium parasites transmitted by Anopheles mosquitoes. This disease continues to threaten human health due to drug and insecticide resistance and invasive mosquito and parasite species. Understanding roles of nutrients and vitamins, including pantothenate (Pan), in malaria can inform novel control strategies. Pan is converted to the co-factor coenzyme A (CoA) by pantothenate kinase (PanK). Mosquito-stage parasites are unable to acquire CoA from the mosquito host and instead must acquire Pan to synthesize CoA. Mosquitoes acquire Pan from nectar and blood. In previous work, we demonstrated that reduction of mosquito Pan with targeted small molecules called pantazines significantly reduced malaria parasite development in A. stephensi, highlighting this biology as an attractive transmission-blocking target. Our observations prompted two questions. First, we asked whether Pan supplementation could increase parasite infection in A. stephensi. To test this, female mosquitoes were provisioned with Pan in soaked pads, then provided access to a parasite-infected bloodmeal. Our data demonstrated that parasite development was enhanced by excess Pan. Second, we sought to determine whether midgut overexpression of PanK in transgenic (TG) A. stephensi could accelerate Pan conversion to CoA to improve restriction of parasite infection. In support, whole body CoA levels were rapidly increased in TG versus non-TG mosquitoes after bloodfeeding. We subsequently compared parasite infection in TG versus non-TG A. stephensi. Our data affirm that manipulation of mosquito Pan disrupts Plasmodium development, perhaps offsetting Pan ingested by the mosquito that is available to parasites, as a novel approach to malaria control.