Pest control and resistance management through release of insects carrying a male-selecting transgene

BMC Biology

Research Article

T. G. Emyr Davies¹  Anthony M. Shelton²  Hilda L. Collins²  Ju Yao³  Nina Alphey⁴  Tim Harvey-Samuel⁵  Luke Alphey⁶  Simon Warner⁷  Neil I. Morrison⁷  Thea Marubbi⁷  Adam S. Walker⁷  Kevin Gorman⁷ 

[1] Biological Chemistry & Crop Protection Department, Rothamsted Research, AL5 2JQ, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, UK;Cornell University/NYSAES, Barton Lab 416, 630 W. North Street, 14456, Geneva, NY, USA;Cornell University/NYSAES, Barton Lab 416, 630 W. North Street, 14456, Geneva, NY, USA;Institute of Plant Protection, Xinjiang Academy of Agricultural Science, Urumqi, China;Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3PS, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park Campus, Buckhurst Road, SL5 7PY, Ascot, Berkshire, UK;Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3PS, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;Oxitec Ltd, 71 Innovation Drive, Milton Park, OX14 4RQ, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, OX1 3PS, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;Oxitec Ltd, 71 Innovation Drive, Milton Park, OX14 4RQ, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;The Pirbright Institute, GU24 0NF, Woking, Surrey, UK;Oxitec Ltd, 71 Innovation Drive, Milton Park, OX14 4RQ, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK;

关键词: Bacillus thuringiensis;    Diamondback moth;    Insect;    Insecticide resistance management;    Pest;    Plutella xylostella;    Sterile insect technique;    Transgenic;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12915-015-0161-1

 received in 2015-05-12, accepted in 2015-06-23,  发布年份 2015

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundDevelopment and evaluation of new insect pest management tools is critical for overcoming over-reliance upon, and growing resistance to, synthetic, biological and plant-expressed insecticides. For transgenic crops expressing insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (‘Bt crops’) emergence of resistance is slowed by maintaining a proportion of the crop as non-Bt varieties, which produce pest insects unselected for resistance. While this strategy has been largely successful, multiple cases of Bt resistance have now been reported.One new approach to pest management is the use of genetically engineered insects to suppress populations of their own species. Models suggest that released insects carrying male-selecting (MS) transgenes would be effective agents of direct, species-specific pest management by preventing survival of female progeny, and simultaneously provide an alternative insecticide resistance management strategy by introgression of susceptibility alleles into target populations. We developed a MS strain of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, a serious global pest of crucifers. MS-strain larvae are reared as normal with dietary tetracycline, but, when reared without tetracycline or on host plants, only males will survive to adulthood. We used this strain in glasshouse-cages to study the effect of MS male P. xylostella releases on target pest population size and spread of Bt resistance in these populations.ResultsIntroductions of MS-engineered P. xylostella males into wild-type populations led to rapid pest population decline, and then elimination. In separate experiments on broccoli plants, relatively low-level releases of MS males in combination with broccoli expressing Cry1Ac (Bt broccoli) suppressed population growth and delayed the spread of Bt resistance. Higher rates of MS male releases in the absence of Bt broccoli were also able to suppress P. xylostella populations, whereas either low-level MS male releases or Bt broccoli alone did not.ConclusionsThese results support theoretical modeling, indicating that MS-engineered insects can provide a powerful pest population suppressing effect, and could effectively augment current Bt resistance management strategies. We conclude that, subject to field confirmation, MS insects offer an effective and versatile control option against P. xylostella and potentially other pests, and may reduce reliance on and protect insecticide-based approaches, including Bt crops.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Harvey-Samuel et al. 2015. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.