title: Fitness improvement of mass-reared sterile males of Ceratitis capitata (Vienna 8 strain) (Diptera: Tephritidae) after gut enrichment with probiotics.
abstract: Successful mass rearing is crucial for sterile insect technique programs. It has been shown that the sterilizing process using gammaradiation results in damage to midgut tissue, cellular organelles, and gut microbiota of flies. This can be responsible for the inferiority of sterile males compared with wild males. A bacteria-enhanced diet could contribute to the improvement of the fly's fitness. We investigated ways of increasing the competitiveness of mass-reared Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) sterile males. We tested the hypothesis that the addition of beneficial bacteria to the larvae's diet would lead to a significant increase in their levels in the gut of the sterile adults and consequently improve their size and fitness. As expected, enriching the diet of mass-rearing Vienna-8 strain larvae with beneficial bacteria (Klebsiella pneumonia, Enterobacter spp., and Citrobacter freundii) resulted in increase in the number of Enterobacteriacae communities inhabiting the male's gut and a subsequent significant increase in the size of males and other morphometric traits and enhanced sexual performance of males at emergence.
authors.affiliation: Medfly Rearing Facility, Research Unit UR04CNSTN01 "Medical and Agricultural Applications of Nuclear Techniques," National Center for Nuclear Sciences and Technology (CNSTN), Sidi Thabet Technopark, 2020 Sidi Thabet, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Heithem
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hamden
authors.forename: Meriem M'Saad
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Guerfali
authors.forename: Selma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fadhl
authors.forename: Mouldi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saidi
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chevrier
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D033622:Ceratitis capitata / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology*; D002954:Citrobacter / Q000502:physiology; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary; D004754:Enterobacter / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000382:microbiology; D056084:Genetic Fitness; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000502:physiology; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology; D008297:Male; D010572:Pest Control, Biological; D019936:Probiotics / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D011679:Pupa / Q000254:growth & development / Q000382:microbiology