title: Engineered repressible lethality for controlling the pink bollworm, a lepidopteran pest of cotton.
abstract: The sterile insect technique (SIT) is an environmentally friendly method of pest control in which insects are mass-produced, irradiated and released to mate with wild counterparts. SIT has been used to control major pest insects including the pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders), a global pest of cotton. Transgenic technology has the potential to overcome disadvantages associated with the SIT, such as the damaging effects of radiation on released insects. A method called RIDL (Release of Insects carrying a Dominant Lethal) is designed to circumvent the need to irradiate insects before release. Premature death of insects' progeny can be engineered to provide an equivalent to sterilisation. Moreover, this trait can be suppressed by the provision of a dietary antidote. In the pink bollworm, we generated transformed strains using different DNA constructs, which showed moderate-to-100% engineered mortality. In permissive conditions, this effect was largely suppressed. Survival data on cotton in field cages indicated that field conditions increase the lethal effect. One strain, called OX3402C, showed highly penetrant and highly repressible lethality, and was tested on host plants where its larvae caused minimal damage before death. These results highlight a potentially valuable insecticide-free tool against pink bollworm, and indicate its potential for development in other lepidopteran pests.
authors.affiliation: Oxitec Limited, Oxford, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Neil I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Morrison
authors.forename: Gregory S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.forename: Guoliang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Sinead
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: O'Connell
authors.forename: Adam S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Tarig
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dafa'alla
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Walters
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Claus
authors.forename: Guolei
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Thea
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Marubbi
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Epton
authors.forename: Claire L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Staten
authors.forename: Ernest
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Thomas A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Luke
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Alphey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D005453:Fluorescence; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D003368:Gossypium / Q000469:parasitology*; D006579:Heterozygote; D006720:Homozygote; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000502:physiology*; D010572:Pest Control, Biological / Q000379:methods*; D010641:Phenotype; D011679:Pupa / Q000235:genetics; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics