Mosquitoes that spread diseases like dengue and West Nile virus are becoming resistant to insecticides, and climate change is expanding their range across Europe. STOP-MATING brings together biologists, geneticists, and engineers to attack these mosquitoes by sabotaging their mating behaviour. Current mosquito control relies heavily on insecticides, which are losing effectiveness. Targeting mating offers a different route: if mosquitoes cannot find or successfully mate with each other, populations collapse without chemical sprays. Yet this approach remains largely unexploited for public health. The network will identify the molecular signals and sensory cues mosquitoes use during courtship—chemical scents, wing-beat frequencies, visual patterns—then develop two kinds of tools. One set will disrupt mating directly, using genetic modifications or chemical disruptors that block reproduction. The other will create traps that mimic the environmental stimuli mosquitoes respond to when courting, luring them away from breeding sites. If successful, these tools could reduce mosquito-borne disease without relying on insecticides, and be adapted for different mosquito species across Europe. The project is applied from the start, aiming for real-world deployment rather than fundamental discovery alone.
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STOP-MATING aims at building a research and innovation network to advance towards developing novel tools to target the mating behaviour of disease-transmitting mosquitoes for vector control. Challenges related to climate change and insecticide resistance are putting human populations at risk of mosquito-borne diseases. Novel strategies are required to tackle this public health challenge. In STOP-MATING we propose to use the mating systems of disease-transmitting mosquitoes as novel vector control targets. Although disrupting mosquito mating would have a clear impact on mosquito vector numbers, this mechanism is underexploited from a public health perspective. In STOP-MATING we bring together experts from academic and industrial partners with interdisciplinary expertise on bioinformatics, molecular neuroscience, genetic control, behaviour, biophysics, vector ecology and vector control to explore novel vector control approaches. Our objectives are to 1) identify molecular targets for mosquito mating disruption, 2) mutate those targets, 3) analyse associated behavioural effects and 4) explore their potential application into developing mating disruptors and gene drive systems for vector control. We also aim at exploiting the mating behaviour of mosquitoes to develop traps that mimic the environmental stimuli that they respond to during courtship behaviour. STOP-MATING approach is to merge knowledge from laboratory and field researchers to deliver real-world solutions, and to tackle different mosquito species of increasing public health relevance in Europe. Our innovative approaches have the potential to make great impact to reduce the health burden of mosquito-borne diseases.
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