Scolari Francesca, Schetelig Marc F, Bertin Sabrina, Malacrida Anna R, Gasperi Giuliano, Wimmer Ernst A
Dipartimento di Biologia Animale, Università di Pavia, Piazza Botta 9, 27100 Pavia, Italy.
N Biotechnol. 2008 Jun;25(1):76-84. doi: 10.1016/j.nbt.2008.02.001. Epub 2008 Apr 23.
The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) involving area-wide release of mass-reared and sterilized pest insects has proven successful to reduce, control and eradicate economically important pest species, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly). For the efficient application, effective monitoring to assess the number and mating success of the released medflies is essential. Here, we report sperm-specific marking systems based on the spermatogenesis-specific Ceratitis capitata beta2-tubulin (Ccbeta2t) promoter. Fluorescent sperm can be isolated from testes or spermathecae. The marking does not cause general disadvantages in preliminary laboratory competitiveness assays. Therefore, transgenic sperm marking could serve as a major improvement for monitoring medfly SIT programs. The use of such harmless transgenic markers will serve as an ideal initial condition to transfer insect transgenesis technology from the laboratory to field applications. Moreover, effective and easily recognizable sperm marking will make novel studies possible on medfly reproductive biology which will help to further improve SIT programs.
昆虫不育技术（SIT）涉及大面积释放大量饲养并绝育的害虫，已被证明在减少、控制和根除具有经济重要性的害虫物种方面是成功的，比如地中海实蝇（medfly）。为了有效应用，进行有效监测以评估释放的地中海实蝇的数量和交配成功率至关重要。在此，我们报告基于精子发生特异性的地中海实蝇β2-微管蛋白（Ccbeta2t）启动子的精子特异性标记系统。荧光精子可从睾丸或受精囊中分离出来。在初步的实验室竞争力试验中，这种标记不会造成普遍的不利影响。因此，转基因精子标记可作为监测地中海实蝇昆虫不育技术项目的一项重大改进。使用这种无害的转基因标记将成为把昆虫转基因技术从实验室转移到田间应用的理想初始条件。此外，有效且易于识别的精子标记将使关于地中海实蝇生殖生物学的新研究成为可能，这将有助于进一步改进昆虫不育技术项目。
