Comparing rearing efficiency and competitiveness of sterile male strains produced by genetic, transgenic or symbiont-based technologies

Joint FAO/IAEA coordinated research project on “comparing rearing efficiency and competitiveness of sterile male strains produced by genetic, transgenic or symbiont-based technologies”

Authors: Kostas Bourtzis, Carlos Cáceres and Marc F. Schetelig

Development and characterization of a pupal-colour based genetic sexing strain of Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Area-wide integrated pest management programs (AW-IPM) incorporating sterile insect technique (SIT) have been successful in suppressing populations of different fruit fly species during the last six decades. I...

Authors: José S. Meza, Kostas Bourtzis, Antigone Zacharopoulou, Angeliki Gariou-Papalexiou and Carlos Cáceres

Genetic stability, genetic variation, and fitness performance of the genetic sexing Salaya1 strain for Bactrocera dorsalis, under long-term mass rearing conditions

A genetic sexing strain (GSS) is an essential component for pest control using the sterile insect technique (SIT). A GSS is developed using a combination of Y-autosome translocation and a selectable marker suc...

Authors: Nidchaya Aketarawong, Siriwan Isasawin, Kamoltip Laohakieat and Sujinda Thanaphum

Precise single base substitution in the shibire gene by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homology directed repair in Bactrocera tryoni

Pest eradication using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) involves high-density releases of sterilized males that mate with wild females and ultimately suppress the population. Sterilized females are not requi...

Authors: Amanda Choo, Elisabeth Fung, Isabel Y. Chen, Robert Saint, Peter Crisp and Simon W. Baxter

Climate stress resistance in male Queensland fruit fly varies among populations of diverse geographic origins and changes during domestication

The highly polyphagous Queensland fruit fly (Bactrocera tryoni Froggatt) expanded its range substantially during the twentieth century and is now the most economically important insect pest of Australian horticul...

Authors: Ángel-David Popa-Báez, Siu Fai Lee, Heng Lin Yeap, Shirleen S. Prasad, Michele Schiffer, Roslyn G. Mourant, Cynthia Castro-Vargas, Owain R. Edwards, Phillip W. Taylor and John G. Oakeshott

Separating two tightly linked species-defining phenotypes in Bactrocera with hybrid recombinant analysis

Bactrocera tryoni and Bactrocera neohumeralis mate asynchronously; the former mates exclusively around dusk while the latter mates during the day. The two species also differ in the colour of the post-pronotal lo...

Authors: Heng Lin Yeap, Siu Fai Lee, Freya Robinson, Roslyn G. Mourant, John A. Sved, Marianne Frommer, Alexie Papanicolaou, Owain R. Edwards and John G. Oakeshott

Anosmic flies: what Orco silencing does to olive fruit flies

The olive fruit fly (Bactrocera oleae) is the most destructive pest of the olive cultivation worldwide causing significant production losses and olive fruit impoverishment, as its larvae feed exclusively on the o...

Authors: Konstantina T. Tsoumani, Alexandros Belavilas-Trovas, Maria-Eleni Gregoriou and Kostas D. Mathiopoulos

Transcribed sex-specific markers on the Y chromosome of the oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis

The Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is a highly polyphagous invasive species with a high reproductive potential. In many tropical and subtropical parts of the world it ranks as one of the major pests of ...

Authors: Davide Carraretto, Nidchaya Aketarawong, Alessandro Di Cosimo, Mosè Manni, Francesca Scolari, Federica Valerio, Anna R. Malacrida, Ludvik M. Gomulski and Giuliano Gasperi

Identification and characterization of four Drosophila suzukii cellularization genes and their promoters

The spotted-wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) is a widespread invasive pest that causes severe economic damage to fruit crops. The early development of D. suzukii is similar to that of other Drosophilids, but ...

Authors: Ying Yan, Syeda A. Jaffri, Jonas Schwirz, Carl Stein and Marc F. Schetelig

Improvement on the genetic engineering of an invasive agricultural pest insect, the cherry vinegar fly, Drosophila suzukii

The invasive fly Drosophila suzukii has become an established fruit pest in Europe, the USA, and South America with no effective and safe pest management. Genetic engineering enables the development of transgene-...

Authors: Hassan M. M. Ahmed, Fabienne Heese and Ernst A. Wimmer

Targeting the autosomal Ceratitis capitata transformer gene using Cas9 or dCas9 to masculinize XX individuals without inducing mutations

Females of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata (Medfly) are major agricultural pests, as they lay eggs into the fruit crops of hundreds of plant species. In Medfly, female sex determination is based on...

Authors: Pasquale Primo, Angela Meccariello, Maria Grazia Inghilterra, Andrea Gravina, Giuseppe Del Corsano, Gennaro Volpe, Germano Sollazzo, Serena Aceto, Mark D. Robinson, Marco Salvemini and Giuseppe Saccone

The hAT-family transposable element, hopper, from Bactrocera dorsalis is a functional vector for insect germline transformation

The hopper hAT-family transposable element isolated from the Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis, is distantly related to both the Drosophila hobo element and the Activator element from maize. The original 31...

Authors: Alfred M. Handler and Marc F. Schetelig

Transcriptome analysis of Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 males, females, and embryos: insights into development, courtship, and reproduction

Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 is considered a quarantine pest in several American countries. Since chemical control applied in an integrated pest management program is the only strategy utilized against this pest,...

Authors: Alejandra Carla Scannapieco, Claudia Alejandra Conte, Máximo Rivarola, Juan Pedro Wulff, Irina Muntaabski, Andrés Ribone, Fabián Milla, Jorge Luis Cladera and Silvia Beatriz Lanzavecchia

Geographic distribution of sex chromosome polymorphism in Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 from Argentina

Anastrepha fraterculus is recognized as a quarantine pest in several American countries. This fruit fly species is native to the American continent and distributed throughout tropical and subtropical regions. It ...

Authors: María Cecilia Giardini, Mariela Nieves, Alejandra Carla Scannapieco, Claudia Alejandra Conte, Fabián Horacio Milla, María Elena Schapovaloff, Maria Soledad Frissolo, María Isabel Remis, Jorge Luis Cladera and Silvia Beatriz Lanzavecchia

Comparative genomics of Klebsiella michiganensis BD177 and related members of Klebsiella sp. reveal the symbiotic relationship with Bactrocera dorsalis

Bactrocera dorsalis is a destructive polyphagous and highly invasive insect pest of tropical and subtropical species of fruit and vegetable crops. The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been used for decades to c...

Authors: Zhaohui Cai, Qiongyu Guo, Zhichao Yao, Wenping Zheng, Junfei Xie, Shuai Bai and Hongyu Zhang

Genetic structure and symbiotic profile of worldwide natural populations of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata, is a cosmopolitan agricultural pest of worldwide economic importance and a model for the development of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) for fruit flies of the T...

Authors: Katerina Nikolouli, Antonios A. Augustinos, Panagiota Stathopoulou, Elias Asimakis, Anastasios Mintzas, Kostas Bourtzis and George Tsiamis

Building a transgenic sexing strain for genetic control of the Australian sheep blow fly Lucilia cuprina using two lethal effectors

The sterile insect technique (SIT) has been successfully used in many pest management programs worldwide. Some SIT programs release both sexes due to the lack of genetic sexing strains or efficient sex separat...

Authors: Ying Yan and Maxwell J. Scott

An early female lethal system of the New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, for biotechnology-enhanced SIT

The New World Screwworm fly (NWS), Cochliomyia hominivorax, is an ectoparasite of warm-blooded animals and a major pest of livestock in parts of South America and the Caribbean where it remains endemic. In North ...

Authors: Carolina Concha, Ying Yan, Alex Arp, Evelin Quilarque, Agustin Sagel, Adalberto Pérez de León, W. Owen McMillan, Steven Skoda and Maxwell J. Scott

Irradiation induced inversions suppress recombination between the M locus and morphological markers in Aedes aegypti

Aedes aegypti is the primary vector of arthropod-borne viruses and one of the most widespread and invasive mosquito species. Due to the lack of efficient specific drugs or vaccination strategies, vector populatio...

Authors: Antonios A. Augustinos, Muhammad Misbah-ul-Haq, Danilo O. Carvalho, Lucia Duran de la Fuente, Panagiota Koskinioti and Kostas Bourtzis