The Best Sugar In Town For Malaria Transmission

Anopheles mosquitoes feed on plant nectars as their main source of sugar. Wang et al. show that Asaia bacteria proliferate in the midgut of mosquitoes that feed on glucose or trehalose. Asaia increases the lumenal pH by down-regulating mosquito vacuolar ATPase expression, therefore increasing Plasmodium gametogenesis and vector competence.