- Geographic distribution of sex chromosome polymorphism in Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 from Argentina. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: We discuss the importance of cytogenetics to understand the possible route of invasion and dispersion of this pest in Argentina and the evolutionary forces acting under laboratory conditions, possibly driving changes in the chromosomal frequencies. Our findings provide deep and integral genetic knowledge of this species, which has become of relevance to the characterization and selection of valuable A. fraterculus sp. 1 strains for mass rearing production and SIT implementation.
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- Development and characterization of a pupal-colour based genetic sexing strain of Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 (Diptera: Tephritidae). [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: We herein report the development of the first genetic sexing strain of a major agricultural pest, A. fraterculus sp. 1, using as a selectable marker the black pupae genetic locus.
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- Improvement on the genetic engineering of an invasive agricultural pest insect, the cherry vinegar fly, Drosophila suzukii. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence that the D. suzukii strain AM derived from the French Alps is more suitable for piggyBac germline transformation than other strains. We demonstrated the feasibility of using φC31-RMCE in the cherry vinegar fly and generated a set of lines that can be used for highly efficient integration of larger constructs. The φC31-based integration will facilitate modification and stabilization of previously generated transgenic lines that carry at least one attP site in the transgene construction. An early embryo-specific and a spermatogenesis-specific driver line were generated for future use of the binary expression system tet-off to engineer tissue- and stage-specific effector gene expression for genetic pest control strategies.
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- Precise single base substitution in the shibire gene by CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homology directed repair in Bactrocera tryoni. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: We have demonstrated the first successful use of CRISPR/Cas9 to introduce precise single base substitutions in an endogenous gene via homology-directed repair in an agricultural pest insect and this technology can be used to trial other conditional mutations for the ultimate aim of generating genetic sexing strains for SIT.
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- Climate stress resistance in male Queensland fruit fly varies among populations of diverse geographic origins and changes during domestication. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Ecotypic variation in heat, starvation and desiccation resistance was detected in Australian Qfly populations, and these stress resistances diminished rapidly during domestication. Our results indicate a need to select source populations for SIT strains which have relatively high climatic stress resistance and to minimise loss of that resistance during domestication.
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- Genetic structure and symbiotic profile of worldwide natural populations of the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Our analysis revealed differences both in the genetic profile and the structure of gut symbiotic communities of medfly natural populations. The genetic analysis expanded our knowledge to populations not analyzed before and our results were in accordance with the existing scenarios regarding this species expansion and colonization pathways. At the same time, the bacterial communities from different natural medfly populations have been characterized, thus broadening our knowledge on the microbiota of the species across its range. Genetic and symbiotic differences between natural and laboratory populations must be considered when designing AW-IPM approaches with a SIT component, since they may impact mating compatibility and mating competitiveness of the laboratory-reared males. In parallel, enrichment from wild populations and/or symbiotic supplementation could increase rearing productivity, biological quality, and mating competitiveness of SIT-important laboratory strains.
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- Building a transgenic sexing strain for genetic control of the Australian sheep blow fly Lucilia cuprina using two lethal effectors. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the parental FL3#2 strain, the DH6 strain shows stronger female lethality and lethality occurs at an earlier stage of development. The combination of two tTA-dependent lethal effectors could improve strain stability under mass rearing and could reduce the risk of resistance in the field if fertile males are released. Our approach could be easily adapted for other pest species for an efficient, safe and sustainable genetic control program.
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- Transcriptome analysis of Anastrepha fraterculus sp. 1 males, females, and embryos: insights into development, courtship, and reproduction. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Our results significantly expand the available gene space of A. fraterculus sp. 1, contributing with a fairly complete transcript database of embryos and adults. The expression analysis of the selected candidate genes, along with a set of microsatellite markers, provides a valuable resource for further genetic characterization of A. fraterculus sp. 1 and supports the development of specific genetic control strategies.
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- Irradiation induced inversions suppress recombination between the M locus and morphological markers in Aedes aegypti. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Inducing inversions through irradiation is a feasible strategy to isolate recombination suppressors either on the M or the m chromosome for Aedes aegypti. Such inversions can be incorporated in genetic sexing strains developed through classical genetics to enhance their genetic stability and support SIT or other approaches that aim to population suppression through male-delivered sterility.
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- An early female lethal system of the New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, for biotechnology-enhanced SIT. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: The early female lethal strains described here could be selected by the NWS Control Program for testing at large scale in the production facility to enhance the efficiency of the NWS eradication program.
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- Identification and characterization of four Drosophila suzukii cellularization genes and their promoters. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: The similarities in the gene coding and 5' flanking sequence as well as in the expression pattern of the four cellularization genes between D. melanogaster and D. suzukii, suggest that conserved functions may be involved in both species. The high expression level at the early blastoderm stage of the four cellularization genes were confirmed, thus their promoters can be considered in embryonic lethality systems. While the Dsnullo promoter could be a suitable candidate, all reported promoters here are subject to further in vivo analyses before constructing potential pest control systems.
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- Comparative genomics of Klebsiella michiganensis BD177 and related members of Klebsiella sp. reveal the symbiotic relationship with Bactrocera dorsalis. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Phylogenomics analysis reclassified strain BD177 as a member of the species K. michiganensis. Comparative genome analysis suggested that K. michiganensis BD177 has the strain-specific ability to provide three essential amino acids (phenylalanine, tryptophan and methionine) and two vitamins B (folate and riboflavin) to B. dorsalis. The clear classification status of BD177 strain and identification of unique genetic characteristics may contribute to expanding our understanding of the symbiotic relationship of gut microbiota and B. dorsalis.
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- Separating two tightly linked species-defining phenotypes in Bactrocera with hybrid recombinant analysis. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the inheritance of the two major species-defining traits is separable but tightly linked and involves more than one gene in each case. It also appears that laboratory conditions select for the B. tryoni phenotypes for mating time. We discuss our findings in relation to speciation theory and the likely effects of domestication during the generation of mass release strains for sterile insect control programmes.
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- The hAT-family transposable element, hopper, from Bactrocera dorsalis is a functional vector for insect germline transformation. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Both vectors were successfully used to transform D. melanogaster, and the DsRed vector was also used to transform the Caribbean fruit fly, Anastrepha suspensa, indicating a wide range of hopper function in dipteran species and, potentially, non-dipteran species. This vector provides a new tool for insect genetic modification for both functional genomic analysis and the control of insect populations.
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