Why Flight Testing is an Important Step in Sterile Insect Technique
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E. Ricciuti,
Entomology Today,
2021.
Releasing hordes of sterilized male insects for unfruitful mating with females—a process known as the sterile insect technique (SIT)—is a proven process for combating many species of pests. Its success depends on sterile males dispersing widely enough to outcompete their wild counterparts and mate with enough females to reduce reproduction of a population. SIT has potential against the navel orangeworm (Amyelois transitella), a moth whose larvae decimates nut crops and, as its name implies, citrus, but scientists still are trying to figure out whether the idea will fly—literally. Researchers in California, where the moth’s larvae wreak havoc on almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, have conducted laboratory experimentsthat have revealed a potential glitch in dispersal ability that needs to be addressed before SIT can be effectively deployed against it. Their analysis is described in a report published this month in the Journal of Economic Entomology. The researchers, led by University of California-Riverside Ph.D. student Joshua Reger, examined the impact on the orangeworm of the same mass-rearing, sterilization, and transportation methods successfully used to combat the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella), a cotton pest. According to the new study, what works on the bollworm is iffy for the orangeworm, because the modus operandi seems to negatively impact flight performance, the key to dispersal. The researchers concluded that “the data from the current study demonstrate a substantial reduction in flight capacity in navel orangeworm, particularly males reared under the current conditions intended for use in a SIT program.” More related to this: Sterile Insect Techniques, GE mosquitoes and gene drives The impact of releasing sterile mosquitoes on malaria transmission Mutant mosquitoes: GM insects ‘engineered’ in ‘new approach to pest control Targeting female flight for genetic control of mosquitoes
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