A dominant lethal genetic system for autocidal control of the Mediterranean fruitfly

Gong, Peng; Epton, Matthew J; Fu, Guoliang; Scaife, Sarah; Hiscox, Alexandra; Condon, Kirsty C; Condon, George C.; Morrison, Neil I.; Kelly, Dave; Dafa'alla, Tarig; Coleman, P. G.; Alphey, Luke

doi:10.1038/nbt1071

Cited by 172 publications

(234 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…While tTA toxicity may be highly effective, it is not species-specific nor is its precise mode of action known (8). Thus, it is impossible to fully evaluate or anticipate all potential programmatic or environmental risks related to the field-release of this type of transgenic insect (18); in particular, are the various issues related to potential survival of transgenic individuals due to resistance to tTA toxicity, genetic breakdown of the toxic effect or other inefficiencies of the system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We believe that lethality caused by pro-apoptotic cell death genes (e.g., hid, rpr, or grim), or other well-studied biological mechanisms (10), is preferable to systems for which the lethality mechanism is unknown, including those dependent on a toxic accumulation of the Tet-transcriptional activator (8,(14)(15)(16)(17). While tTA toxicity may be highly effective, it is not species-specific nor is its precise mode of action known (8).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One system uses self-regulated accumulation of the tetracycline-controlled transactivator (tTA) that is toxic at high concentrations. The limitation of this system, however, is that unlike typical SIT, lethality occurs in late larval or pupal progeny after damage to host plants has been sustained (8). The other system, however, uses embryonic-specific serendipity α (sryα) promoters to drive tTA expression, which then activates expression of the Drosophila hid Ala5 proapoptotic lethal gene.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…An effective biologically based control system for these, and other tephritid pests, is the sterile insect technique (SIT) that relies on the field release en masse of males sterilized by irradiation, resulting in progeny that are zygotic lethal (5,6). In the process of developing improved methods for SIT programs for the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata, two transgenic approaches have been taken based on tetracycline-suppressibilty of lethality in the progeny of released males, using the Tet-off gene expression system (7)(8)(9). One system uses self-regulated accumulation of the tetracycline-controlled transactivator (tTA) that is toxic at high concentrations.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Strategy for enhanced transgenic strain development for embryonic conditional lethality in Anastrepha suspensa

Schetelig

Handler

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Here the first reproductive sterility system for the tephritid fruit fly pest, Anastrepha suspensa, is presented, based on lethality primarily limited to embryos heterozygous for a conditional lethal transgene combination. This tetracycline (Tet)-suppressible system uses a driver construct having the promoter from the newly isolated embryo-specific A. suspensa serendipity α gene linked to the Tet-transactivator. This was used to drive expression of a phosphomutated variant of the pro-apoptotic cell death gene, hid, from A. ludens, that was isolated, based on its identity to A. suspensa hid. The Alhid Ala2 variant was shown to have the highest cell death activity in an in vitro A. suspensa cell death assay compared to the orthologous genes Ashid, Dmhid, and the variant Dmhid Ala5 . These cell death assays also allowed a determination of the most-efficient driver-effector cassette combinations for use in A. suspensa transformants, resulting in two hybrid strains exhibiting 100% lethality. One strain was 96% lethal in embryos in the absence of tetracycline, with none surviving past the first larval instar, which is critical for pests that are most damaging in late-larval stages. We demonstrate that the isolation and in vitro validation of species-specific promoters and lethal effector genes can greatly improve the efficiency of creating high-performance conditional lethality strains that may be extended to other insect pest species.apoptosis | insect pest management | sterile insect technique

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Strategy for enhanced transgenic strain development for embryonic conditional lethality in Anastrepha suspensa

Schetelig

Handler

2012

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The efficiency of this method may take great advantage from the availability of transgenic modifications conferring different useful features such as fluorescent marking (5,7,9), transgenic sexing (3), dominant lethality (4,10), or reproductive sterility (6,11). Such transgenes are routinely inserted into the genome by the use of transposons as gene vectors, which integrate randomly.…”

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confidence: 99%

Site-specific recombination for the modification of transgenic strains of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Schetelig

Scolari

Handler

et al. 2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Insect transgenesis is mainly based on the random genomic integration of DNA fragments embedded into non-autonomous transposable elements. Once a random insertion into a specific location of the genome has been identified as particularly useful with respect to transgene expression, the ability to make the insertion homozygous, and lack of fitness costs, it may be advantageous to use that location for further modification. Here we describe an efficient method for the modification of previously inserted transgenes by the use of the site-specific integration system from phage phiC31 in a tephritid pest species, the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata. First, suitable transgenic strains with randomly integrated attP landing sites within transposon-based vectors were identified by molecular and functional characterization. Second, donor plasmids containing an attB site, with additional markers, and transposon ends were integrated into attP sites by phiC31 integrase-mediated recombination. Third, transposase-encoding 'jumpstarter' strains were created and mated to transgenic strains resulting in the postintegrational excision of transposon ends, which left stably integrated transgene insertions that could not be remobilized. This three-step integration and stabilization system will allow the combination of several transgeneencoded advantageous traits at evaluated genomic positions to generate optimized strains for pest control that minimize environmental concerns.insect pest management ͉ phiC31 integrase ͉ transgene stability

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Developing CRISPR‐based sex‐ratio distorters for the genetic control of fruit fly pests: A how to manual

Tsoumani

Meccariello

Mathiopoulos

et al. 2019

Arch Insect Biochem Physiol

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Agricultural pest control using genetic-based methods provides a species-specific and environmentally harmless way for population suppression of fruit flies. One way to improve the efficiency of such methods is through selflimiting, female-eliminating approaches that can alter an insect populations' sex ratio toward males. In this microreview, we summarize recent advances in synthetic sex ratio distorters based on X-chromosome shredding that can induce male-biased progeny. We outline the basic principles to guide the efficient design of an X-shredding system in an XY heterogametic fruit fly species of interest using CRISPR/ Cas gene editing, newly developed computational tools, and insect genetic engineering. We also discuss technical aspects and challenges associated with the efficient transferability of this technology in fruit fly pest populations, toward the potential use of this new class of genetic control approaches for pest management purposes.

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A dominant lethal genetic system for autocidal control of the Mediterranean fruitfly

Cited by 172 publications

References 19 publications

Strategy for enhanced transgenic strain development for embryonic conditional lethality in Anastrepha suspensa

Strategy for enhanced transgenic strain development for embryonic conditional lethality in Anastrepha suspensa

Site-specific recombination for the modification of transgenic strains of the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata

Developing CRISPR‐based sex‐ratio distorters for the genetic control of fruit fly pests: A how to manual

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