Engineered Repressible Lethality for Controlling the Pink Bollworm, a Lepidopteran Pest of Cotton

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 7; no. 12; p. e50922
• Main Authors: Morrison, Neil I, Simmons, Gregory S, Fu, Guoliang, O’Connell, Sinead, Walker, Adam S, Dafa’alla, Tarig, Walters, Michelle, Claus, John, Tang, Guolei, Jin, Li, Marubbi, Thea, Epton, Matthew J, Harris, Claire L, Staten, Robert T, Miller, Ernest, Miller, Thomas A, Alphey, Luke, Palli, Subba Reddy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 04.12.2012; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Aedes aegypti; Agriculture; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; antidotes; Biology; Blotting, Southern; Butterflies & moths; Cages; Ceratitis capitata; Chromosomes; control methods; Cotton; Culicidae; death; Deoxyribonucleic acid; Diet; DNA; Females; Fluorescence; Fruits; Gene expression; Genetic engineering; Genetic Engineering - methods; genetically modified organisms; Gossypium - parasitology; Gossypium hirsutum; Heterozygote; Homozygote; Host plants; Hostages; Insect pests; Insecticides; Insects; Laboratories; Larva - genetics; Larvae; Lepidoptera; Lepidoptera - physiology; Lethality; Males; mortality; Mosquitoes; Mutation; Pectinophora gossypiella; Pest control; Pest Control, Biological - methods; Pests; Phenotype; Progeny; Pupa - genetics; Quarantine; Radiation; Radiation (Physics); Radiation damage; Radiation effects; Science; Sperm; sterile insect technique; Sterilization; Sterilized organisms; Survival Analysis; sustainable technology; Transformation, Genetic; Transgenes - genetics; Transgenic; Zoology; United States > US; Arizona; California
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0050922

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.