Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications
A major obstacle of sterile insect technique (SIT) programs is the availability of robust sex-separation systems for conditional removal of females. Sterilized male-only releases improve SIT efficiency and cost-effectiveness for agricultural pests, whereas it is critical to remove female disease-vec...
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doaj-d24d987925c742059c5240e9637f8c072021-03-14T00:01:17ZengMDPI AGInsects2075-44502021-03-011224324310.3390/insects12030243Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique ApplicationsThu N. M. Nguyen0Amanda Choo1Simon W. Baxter2Bio21 Institute, School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3052, AustraliaSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, AustraliaBio21 Institute, School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3052, AustraliaA major obstacle of sterile insect technique (SIT) programs is the availability of robust sex-separation systems for conditional removal of females. Sterilized male-only releases improve SIT efficiency and cost-effectiveness for agricultural pests, whereas it is critical to remove female disease-vector pests prior to release as they maintain the capacity to transmit disease. Some of the most successful Genetic Sexing Strains (GSS) reared and released for SIT control were developed for Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly), <i>Ceratitis capitata</i>, and carry a temperature sensitive lethal (<i>tsl</i>) mutation that eliminates female but not male embryos when heat treated. The Medfly <i>tsl</i> mutation was generated by random mutagenesis and the genetic mechanism causing this valuable heat sensitive phenotype remains unknown. Conditional temperature sensitive lethal mutations have also been developed using random mutagenesis in the insect model, <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>, and were used for some of the founding genetic research published in the fields of neuro- and developmental biology. Here we review mutations in select <i>D. melanogaster</i> genes <i>shibire</i>, <i>Notch</i>, <i>RNA polymerase II 215kDa</i>, <i>pale</i>, <i>transformer-</i><i>2</i><i>, Dsor1</i> and <i>CK2α</i> that cause temperature sensitive phenotypes. Precise introduction of orthologous point mutations in pest insect species with CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology holds potential to establish GSSs with embryonic lethality to improve and advance SIT pest control.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/3/243<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>embryo lethalitytemperature sensitivityparalysisCRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Thu N. M. Nguyen Amanda Choo Simon W. Baxter |
spellingShingle |
Thu N. M. Nguyen Amanda Choo Simon W. Baxter Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications Insects <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> embryo lethality temperature sensitivity paralysis CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis |
author_facet |
Thu N. M. Nguyen Amanda Choo Simon W. Baxter |
author_sort |
Thu N. M. Nguyen |
title |
Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications |
title_short |
Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications |
title_full |
Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications |
title_fullStr |
Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications |
title_full_unstemmed |
Lessons from Drosophila: Engineering Genetic Sexing Strains with Temperature-Sensitive Lethality for Sterile Insect Technique Applications |
title_sort |
lessons from drosophila: engineering genetic sexing strains with temperature-sensitive lethality for sterile insect technique applications |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Insects |
issn |
2075-4450 |
publishDate |
2021-03-01 |
description |
A major obstacle of sterile insect technique (SIT) programs is the availability of robust sex-separation systems for conditional removal of females. Sterilized male-only releases improve SIT efficiency and cost-effectiveness for agricultural pests, whereas it is critical to remove female disease-vector pests prior to release as they maintain the capacity to transmit disease. Some of the most successful Genetic Sexing Strains (GSS) reared and released for SIT control were developed for Mediterranean fruit fly (Medfly), <i>Ceratitis capitata</i>, and carry a temperature sensitive lethal (<i>tsl</i>) mutation that eliminates female but not male embryos when heat treated. The Medfly <i>tsl</i> mutation was generated by random mutagenesis and the genetic mechanism causing this valuable heat sensitive phenotype remains unknown. Conditional temperature sensitive lethal mutations have also been developed using random mutagenesis in the insect model, <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>, and were used for some of the founding genetic research published in the fields of neuro- and developmental biology. Here we review mutations in select <i>D. melanogaster</i> genes <i>shibire</i>, <i>Notch</i>, <i>RNA polymerase II 215kDa</i>, <i>pale</i>, <i>transformer-</i><i>2</i><i>, Dsor1</i> and <i>CK2α</i> that cause temperature sensitive phenotypes. Precise introduction of orthologous point mutations in pest insect species with CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology holds potential to establish GSSs with embryonic lethality to improve and advance SIT pest control. |
topic |
<i>Drosophila melanogaster</i> embryo lethality temperature sensitivity paralysis CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/12/3/243 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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