A perspective on the need and current status of efficient sex separation methods for mosquito genetic control

Parasites & Vectors

Michelle Cristine Pedrosa¹  Jair Fernandes Virginio¹  Frederic Tripet²  Philippos Aris Papathanos³  Margareth Lara Capurro⁴  Kostas Bourtzis⁵  Franck Adama Yao⁶  Patric Stephane Epopa⁶  Abdoulaye Diabate⁶  Hervé Bossin⁷  Lakamy Sylla⁸  Amadou Guindo⁸  Mamadou B. Coulibaly⁸ 

[1] Biofabrica Moscamed Brazil, Industrial District;Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology, School of Life Sciences, Keele University;Department of Entomology, The Robert H Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, Hebrew University of Jerusalem;Department of Parasitology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo;Insect Pest Control Laboratory, Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture;Institut de Recherche en Sciences de la Sante, Centre Muraz;Laboratoire d’Entomologie Médicale, Institut Louis Malardé;Malaria Research and Training Center, Université des Sciences, des Techniques et des Technologies de Bamako;

关键词: Mosquito;    Genetic control;    Sex separation;    Sexing;    Genetic sexing strains;    Sterile insect technique;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13071-018-3222-9

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Abstract Major efforts are currently underway to develop novel, complementary methods to combat mosquito-borne diseases. Mosquito genetic control strategies (GCSs) have become an increasingly important area of research on account of their species-specificity, track record in targeting agricultural insect pests, and their environmentally non-polluting nature. A number of programs targeting Aedes and Anopheles mosquitoes, vectors of human arboviruses and malaria respectively, are currently being developed or deployed in many parts of the world. Operationally implementing these technologies on a large scale however, beyond proof-of-concept pilot programs, is hampered by the absence of adequate sex separation methods. Sex separation eliminates females in the laboratory from male mosquitoes prior to release. Despite the need for sex separation for the control of mosquitoes, there have been limited efforts in recent years in developing systems that are fit-for-purpose. In this special issue of Parasites and Vectors we report on the progress of the global Coordinated Research Program on “Exploring genetic, molecular, mechanical and behavioural methods for sex separation in mosquitoes” that is led by the Insect Pest Control Subprogramme of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture with the specific aim of building efficient sex separation systems for mosquito species. In an effort to overcome current barriers we briefly highlight what we believe are the three main reasons why progress has been so slow in developing appropriate sex separation systems: the availability of methods that are not scalable, the difficulty of building the ideal genetic systems and, finally, the lack of research efforts in this area.

【 授权许可】

Unknown