Scientists flip flower perfume right into a mosquito killer

By exploiting mosquitoes’ attraction to flowers, a global group of researchers engineered a brand new pressure of Metarhizium fungus that releases a candy aroma just like actual blooms. The modified fungus attracts within the bugs and infects them, in the end killing them.

The scientists had been impressed by pure fungi that emit a pleasing chemical referred to as longifolene, which they found may appeal to mosquitoes. Building on that concept, they created a fungus that acts like a deadly fragrance for the pests, providing a promising device in opposition to malaria, dengue, and different lethal ailments which are changing into more and more proof against chemical pesticides. Their findings had been printed in Nature Microbiology on October 24, 2025.

How the “Perfumed” Fungus Works

“Mosquitoes need flowers because they provide nectar, a crucial source of food for them, and they are drawn to flowers through their scents,” defined paper co-author Raymond St. Leger, a Distinguished University Professor of Entomology on the University of Maryland. “After observing that some types of fungi could trick mosquitoes into thinking they were flowers, we realized we could turbo-charge the attraction by engineering fungi to produce more longifolene, a sweet-smelling compound that’s already very common in nature. Before this study, longifolene wasn’t known to attract mosquitoes. We’re letting nature give us a hint to tell us what works against mosquitoes.”

According to St. Leger, the floral-scented fungus gives a straightforward and accessible methodology for controlling mosquito populations. The spores can merely be positioned in containers indoors or outside, the place they regularly launch longifolene over a number of months. When mosquitoes come into contact with the fungus, they turn into contaminated and die inside just a few days. In laboratory checks, the fungus worn out 90 to 100% of mosquitoes, even in environments crammed with competing scents from individuals and actual flowers. Despite its efficiency, the fungus is totally innocent to people.

Safe, Targeted, and Environmentally Friendly

“The fungus is completely harmless to humans as longifolene is already commonly used in perfumes and has a long safety record,” St. Leger mentioned. “This makes it much safer than many chemical pesticides. We’ve also designed the fungus and its containers to target mosquitoes specifically rather than any other insects and longifolene breaks down naturally in the environment.”

In addition, not like chemical options that mosquitoes have regularly turn into proof against, this organic method could also be almost unattainable for mosquitoes to outsmart or keep away from.

“If mosquitoes evolve to avoid longifolene, that could mean they’ll stop responding to flowers,” St. Leger defined. “But they need flowers as a food source to survive, so it would be very interesting to see how they could possibly avoid the fungus yet still be attracted to the flowers they need. It’ll be very difficult for them to overcome that hurdle, and we have the option of engineering the fungus to produce additional floral odors if they evolve to specifically avoid longifolene.”

Affordable and Scalable Global Potential

What additionally makes this new fungal know-how notably promising is how sensible and reasonably priced it’s to supply. Other types of Metarhizium are already generally cultivated all over the world on low cost supplies like rooster droppings, rice husks and wheat scraps which are available after harvest. The affordability and ease of the fungus may very well be key to lowering mosquito disease-related deaths in lots of elements of the world, particularly in poorer international locations within the international south.

Finding efficient new weapons in opposition to mosquitoes may very well be extra necessary than ever. St. Leger warns that sooner or later, mosquito-borne ailments presently restricted to tropical areas may threaten new targets, together with the United States. With rising international temperatures and the rising unpredictability of climate, disease-carrying mosquitoes have begun to unfold to new areas past their typical habitats.

“Mosquitoes love many of the ways we are changing our world,” St. Leger mentioned. “Right now, we’re hoping to use these approaches in Africa, Asia and South America. But one day, we may need them for ourselves.”

Next Steps within the Fight Against Mosquito-Borne Disease

St. Leger and his colleagues are actually testing the fungus in bigger outside trials to arrange it for regulatory evaluation.

“It’s not as if you’re going to necessarily find a silver bullet to control mosquitoes everywhere, but we’re trying to develop a very diverse and flexible set of tools that people in different parts of the world can use and choose from,” St. Leger mentioned. “Different people will find different approaches work best for their particular situation and the particular mosquitoes they’re dealing with. In the end, our goal is to give people as many options as possible to save lives.”