A joint research team led by Professors at Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Johns Hopkins University, identified a new bacterium strain (AS1) of the genus Serratia isolated from Anopheles ovaries to stop mosquitoes spreading malaria.

It can spread rapidly throughout mosquito populations, and persist for subsequent multiple generations. Serratia AS1 can be genetically manipulated for secretion of anti-Plasmodium effector molecules by use of the Serratia HasA (heme-binding protein) exporting system, and the recombinant strains strongly inhibit development of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in mosquitoes.