Transposable Elements for Insect Transformation

An overview of irritans-mariner transposons in two Mayetiola species (Diptera: Cecidomyiidae)

“…The ability of TEs to move enabled them to be used as genetic tools for mutagenesis and transgenesis in several organisms, such as insects (Largaespada, 2003;Ryder & Russell, 2003;Handler & O'Brochta, 2012).The choice of appropriate TEs as transgenetic vectors depends on the TEs present in the target genome since the use of endogenous TEs as genetic tools could result in trans-mobilization and therefore the instability of the host genome (Ashburner et al, 1998). Thus, it is important to study and identify the different TE groups and variants existing in a given genome.…”

piggyBac transposon remobilization and enhancer detection in Anopheles mosquitoes

“…Currently there are four broad host-range class II transposons used as primary germline transformation vectors in mosquitoes: Hermes, Mos1, Minos, and piggyBac (15). Hermes is a hobo, Ac, Tam (hAT)-type element originally isolated from Musca domestica (16), and Mos1 and Minos are IS630/Tc1/mariner-type elements originally isolated from Drosophila mauritiana and Drosophila hydei, respectively (17,18).…”

“…piggyBac was originally isolated from baculoviruses passaged through Trichoplusia ni cells (19,20). Transformation rates using these transposons are low when transposons are introduced into germ cells by microinjecting transposon-containing plasmids into preblastoderm embryos (15). Usually only a few percent of the embryos surviving microinjection develop into adults and produce transgenic progeny.…”

Safe and fit genetically modified insects for pest control: from lab to field applications

“…The development and implementation of the SIT against this species has been so rapid and effective that it has been validated and practiced on industrial and area-wide scale (Hendrichs 2000;Klassen and Curtis 2005). In addition, the medfly was the first non-drosophilid insect to be transformed (Loukeris et al 1995) and this achievement opened the way to the genetic transformation of many other pest insects that are targets of SIT programmes (Handler and McCombs 2000;Handler and Harrell 2001;Handler and O'Brochta 2005;Koukidou et al 2006;Condon et al 2007a). Different medfly strains are currently available that should increase the efficacy and cost effectiveness of the SIT both at the mass-rearing, releasing and monitoring stages, since they provide (1) genetic marking for the identification of transformed insects (Zwiebel et al 1995;Handler et al 1998;Michel et al 2001); (2) male-specific fluorescent sorting (Scolari et al 2008b); (3) sexing for male-only strains Condon et al 2007b); (4) reproductive sterility through embryonic lethality (Gong et al 2005;Schetelig et al 2009a).…”

“…In the last decade, it has been widely demonstrated that efficient germ-line transformation for the generation of genetically modified (GM) insects is possible for several dipteran species (Handler and O'Brochta 2005). Such technical advances render feasible the application of transgenesis to implement pest management programmes against both agricultural pests and disease vectors (Benedict and Robinson 2008).…”