The availability of males from transgenic lines of Ceratitis capitata in which production of GFP or DsRed is driven by a sperm-specific promoter may be of paramount interest for both applied and basic purposes. The environmentally friendly Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has been effectively applied as a component of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) for C. capitata since the 1970s. Transgenic approaches should increase and widen the applicability of such programmes also to different pest species. We have engineered two lines of Medfly each with a green and a red fluorescent marker. One marker (turboGFP or DsRedExpress) is under the control of the sperm specific 2-tubulin promoter from Ceratitis capitata; the second (DsRed or EGFP) is under the control of the polyubiquitin promoter of Drosophila melanogaster. Released males from these strains could be distinguished from wild-type males in the monitoring process during SIT. In addition, monitoring of the mating success of sterile released males by trapping females and examine their spermathecae is possible with these strains. Moreover, the availability of differently sperm-marked lines will help us to understand the relationship between sperm allocation, remating frequency and sperm displacement in the Medfly, given that in wild populations females can remate with a strong paternity skew. Besides having possible implications for the maintenance of genetic variability, and consequently the evolution of the species, these aspects of the mating behaviour may locally affect SIT applications.
Development of a sperm marking system in the medfly, Ceratitis capitata and its application in population control
BERTIN, SABRINA;
2007-01-01
Abstract
The availability of males from transgenic lines of Ceratitis capitata in which production of GFP or DsRed is driven by a sperm-specific promoter may be of paramount interest for both applied and basic purposes. The environmentally friendly Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) has been effectively applied as a component of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) for C. capitata since the 1970s. Transgenic approaches should increase and widen the applicability of such programmes also to different pest species. We have engineered two lines of Medfly each with a green and a red fluorescent marker. One marker (turboGFP or DsRedExpress) is under the control of the sperm specific 2-tubulin promoter from Ceratitis capitata; the second (DsRed or EGFP) is under the control of the polyubiquitin promoter of Drosophila melanogaster. Released males from these strains could be distinguished from wild-type males in the monitoring process during SIT. In addition, monitoring of the mating success of sterile released males by trapping females and examine their spermathecae is possible with these strains. Moreover, the availability of differently sperm-marked lines will help us to understand the relationship between sperm allocation, remating frequency and sperm displacement in the Medfly, given that in wild populations females can remate with a strong paternity skew. Besides having possible implications for the maintenance of genetic variability, and consequently the evolution of the species, these aspects of the mating behaviour may locally affect SIT applications.
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
