Fluorescent-based sex-separation technique in major invasive crop pest,Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

Insect population biocontrol methods such as the sterile insect technique (SIT), represent promising alternatives to traditional pesticide-based control applications. To use these strategies efficiently requires scalable sex separation techniques which are currently lacking inDrosophila suzukii, a prominent crop pest species. Having previously characterized a fluorescence-based sex-sorting technique in other pests, termed SEPARATOR (SexingElementProduced byAlternativeRNA-splicing ofA TransgenicObservableReporter), here we explore its potential applicability toDrosophila suzukii. Here, we engineer several strains ofDrosophila suzukiiencoding SEPARATOR constructs that allow for efficient sex selection in early larval stages.