GENETIC MANIPULATION OF PESTS

• Reduce the fitness of the pest directly, or indirectly in order to

decrease or eradicate the population.
Sterile insect technique (SIT) or
Sterile insect release (SIR)
1. Mass rearing of the target
insect species (males)
2. Sterilizing the insects with
ionizing radiation or
chemosterilants.
3. Releasing in large enough
numbers to reduce the
probability of successful
matings in the wild population
What are the limitations of SIT?
• Geography. The eradication zone must have either natural barriers (e.g., oceans,
deserts, mountains) or defensible borders to prevent or reduce the immigration
of the target pest from outside.
• Resistance. Native females may be able to recognize and refuse to mate with
sterile males
• Economics. Cost of rearing, sterilizing, and releasing a large numbers of insects
can be very high and needs to be justified (EIL).
• Desirability of sterile males. The lab-reared and sterilized males must be equally
or more competitive than the native males in mating with the native females.
They may become less desirable after many generations and need renewal.
• Knowledge about the pest. Reproductive behavior, population dynamics,
dispersal, and ecology of the insect.
• Timing. The development of the lab-reared colony must be synchronous with
that of the wild population.
What are the advantages of SIT?
• Creates inverse density-dependent feedback, making it
more efficient as the wild population decreases.
• The only PM tactic whose fundamental objective is to
drive a wild population to extinction.
• Specific
• Environmentally-friendly
– Does not contaminate natural food chain
– No threat/harm to human health has so far been
reported
Another approach would be:
Inherited / delayed sterility
• An alternative genetic strategy to SIT
• Requires fewer insects
• Requires lower doses of radiation
• Released insects are fertile but their progeny are sterile.
• Genetic alterations induced by low dose radiation
– genetic transformation with a conditional lethal trait