Meeting Abstract
Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is a strategy for controlling insect pest populations in which sterilized males incapable of siring offspring are released into the environment. Transgenic technologies have the potential to improve SIT operations by providing new strategies for sterilization and sex sorting through the use of conditional lethality constructs. The conditional lethality systems that have been developed are tetracycline suppressible such that flies with tetracycline in their diet are able to develop and breed normally under laboratory conditions. Once in the wild, where tetracycline is absent, lethality is triggered by stage- or sex-specific developmental disruption. However, the extent to which environmental and genetic factors affect the expression and activity of these conditionally lethal transgenes has not been assessed. Before such transgenic strategies can be incorporated into management programs, information regarding the efficiency and potential environmental impacts is urgently needed. Here, using Drosophila melanogaster as a model, we are evaluating intrinsic (genetic variability) and extrinsic (environmental variability) factors that may jeopardize the effectiveness of transgenic SIT release programs. In this poster, we will present egg viability assays for transgenic SIT as a proof of concept and preliminary data from a quantitative gene expression assay targeting the transgenic construct. Moreover, we are constructing a dose response curve for the conditional lethality system along a tetracycline concentration gradient. Beyond our focus on SIT, these experiments also have broader implications for assessing risks associated with the use of genetically modified organisms in natural and agricultural ecosystems.
