Insect population control through male sterilization is effective
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Peer-reviewed literature demonstrates that the sterile insect technique, which involves releasing sterile males to produce non-viable progeny or suppress populations, is an effective and viable tool for controlling insect pests and vector mosquitoes.
Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti are the main vectors of arboviral diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya viruses. About a third of the world population is currently at risk of contracting Aedes -borne epidemics. In recent years, A. albopictus has drastically increased its distribution in many countries. In the absence of efficient mosquito vector control methods, the sterile insect technique (SIT) is presented as a very promising and environment-friendly control tool. The Agriculture Department of the Valencian Region is promoting an ongoing pilot project to evaluate the efficacy of an integrated vector management program (IVM) based on the use of the SIT as the main method of control. The laboratory studies for evaluating the entomological efficacy of SIT through the phased conditional testing process recommended by World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency (WHO-IAEA) are addressed. This study describes the routine operating procedures and quality control parameters for the medium-scale rearing of sterile male A. albopictus . More than 15 million sterile males have been produced and released in an area of 80 ha between 2018 and 2020. Of the initial L1 larvae, we recovered 17.2% of male pupae after sex sorting to be sterilized and released on the field, while the rest of the pupae remained available to maintain the rearing colony. The residual percentage of females after sex sorting was on average 0.17%. The obtained values in terms of pro
ABSTRACT Biocontrol techniques that impair reproductive capacity of insect pests provide opportunities to control the dynamics of their populations while minimizing collateral damage to non‐target species and the environment. The Trojan Female Technique, or TFT, is a method of the trans‐generational fertility‐based population control through the release of females that carry mitochondrial DNA mutations that negatively affect male, but not female, reproductive output. TFT is based on the evolutionary hypothesis that, due to maternal inheritance of mitochondria, mutations which are beneficial or neutral in females but harmful in males can accumulate in the mitochondrial genome without selection acting against them. Although TFT has been theoretically substantiated, empirical work to date has focused only on Drosophila melanogaster populations, while the existence of male‐biased mutations and the TFT approach in economically important pest species remain unexplored. Here, we examined the sex‐specific effects of three distinct and naturally occurring mitochondrial haplotypes (MG1a, MG1d, and MG3b) on several reproductive and life history traits in the seed beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus. Our results revealed that males harboring the MG3b mitotype exhibited lower early fecundity and fertility, while there were no effects on females or longevity in either sex. Our experiments provide support for the existence of the mitochondrial variant that specifically impairs male reproductive
Abstract Tephritid fruit fly pests pose an increasing threat to the agricultural industry due to their global dispersion and a highly invasive nature. Here we showcase the feasibility of an early-detection SEPARATOR sex sorting approach through using the non-model Tephritid pest, Ceratitis capitata. This system relies on female-only fluorescent marker expression, accomplished through the use of a sex-specific intron of the highly-conserved transformer gene from C. capitata and Anastrepha ludens. The herein characterized strains have 100% desired phenotype outcomes, allowing accurate male–female separation during early development. Overall, we describe an antibiotic and temperature-independent sex-sorting system in C. capitata, which, moving forward, may be implemented in other non-model Tephritid pest species. This strategy can facilitate the establishment of genetic sexing systems with endogenous elements exclusively, which, on a wider scale, can improve pest population control strategies like sterile insect technique.
Abstract The sterile insect technique (SIT) reduces population numbers by releasing sterile males that produce non-viable progeny. Specifically, CRISPR/Cas9-based precision-guided SIT (pgSIT) generates sterile males through genetic crosses of two transgenic lines: a Cas9 strain and a guide RNA (gRNA) strain targeting male sterility and female viability or infertility. However, pgSIT requires separate maintenance of the two lines and sorting to obtain sterile males, creating possible challenges for scaling. To overcome this, we propose using Cas12a nuclease, which is inoperative at lower temperatures but active at higher temperatures. Here, we develop a Cas12a-based pgSIT system involving a single strain containing both the Cas12a nuclease and gRNAs to induce male sterility and female lethality. This strain can be maintained as a mixed stock of both sexes and only activated by increasing temperature, producing sterile males after just one generation. By reducing the challenges that arise with maintaining two separate lines, this system could offer a scalable alternative for vector control in combating vector-borne diseases.
Several mosquito control technologies, including the sterile insect technique (SIT), the incompatible insect technique (IIT), and a variety of genetic technologies are emerging as promising solutions for combatting insecticide resistance and the spread of vector-borne diseases. These approaches involve mass releases of male mosquitoes in an effort to suppress mosquito populations in an eco-friendly manner. At small scale, male mosquito selection can be achieved through the use of mechanical separation techniques, but such methods are not sufficient for scaled implementation of emerging mosquito population control technologies. This review discusses mechanical, genetic, and automated mosquito sex sorting techniques that have emerged to address the need for scaled male mosquito production, as well as the potential contributions of RNA interference (RNAi) to facilitate this process. One RNAi method utilizes the oral delivery of yeast expressing interfering RNA targeting genes required for female larval survival. The yeast, which can be incorporated into normal insect larval diets, enables male sex selection during larval rearing in mosquitoes and could easily be extended to other insects. RNAi-mediated sex-sorting technologies, in combination with mechanical, genetic, and automated sorting technologies, could facilitate the scaled production of adult males in support of global insect population suppression efforts.
The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), by means of sterile male releases of Anastrepha ludens (Loew), coupled with Augmentative Biological Control (ABC), by releasing the parasitoid Diachasmimorpha longicaudata (Ashmead), was evaluated in a commercial mango production area for one year. The obtained results were compared with mean fruit fly population values from two previous years without the combined use of both techniques. The treatments were: SIT + ABC, SIT, ABC, and Control, and each treatment was established in blocks of 5000 Ha separated by distances of 5–10 km. The evaluations were carried out through fruit sampling to assess percent parasitism and trapping of adult flies to obtain Flies per Trap per Day (FTD) values. The mean percentage of parasitism increased from 0.59% in the control treatment to 19.38% in the block with ABC. The FTD values decreased from ~0.129 and ~0.012 in the control block to 0.0021 in the block with SIT and ABC, representing a 98% suppression. The difference between the two periods in the control block was not significant. We conclude that the integration of both techniques resulted in an additive suppression of the pest population, supporting the use of both control techniques in an area-wide pest management context.
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