Entomology Unit, FAO/IAEA Agriculture and Biotechnology Laboratory, IAEA Laboratories, A-2444 Seibersdorf, Austria.
Malar J. 2009 Nov 16;8 Suppl 2(Suppl 2):S4. doi: 10.1186/1475-2875-8-S2-S4.
Mosquitoes, just as other insects produced for the sterile insect technique (SIT), are subjected to several unnatural processes including laboratory colonisation and large-scale factory production. After these processes, sterile male mosquitoes must perform the natural task of locating and mating with wild females. Therefore, the colonisation and production processes must preserve characters necessary for these functions. Fortunately, in contrast to natural selection which favours a suite of characteristics that improve overall fitness, colonisation and production practices for SIT strive to maximize only the few qualities that are necessary to effectively control populations. However, there is considerable uncertainty about some of the appropriate characteristics due to the lack of data. Development of biological products for other applications suggest that it is possible to identify and modify competitiveness characteristics in order to produce competitive mass produced sterile mosquitoes. This goal has been pursued--and sometimes achieved--by mosquito colonisation, production, and studies that have linked these characteristics to field performance. Parallels are drawn to studies in other insect SIT programmes and aquaculture which serve as vital technical reference points for mass-production of mosquitoes, most of whose development occurs--and characteristics of which are determined--in an aquatic environment. Poorly understood areas that require further study are numerous: diet, mass handling and genetic and physiological factors that influence mating competitiveness. Compromises in such traits due to demands to increase numbers or reduce costs, should be carefully considered in light of the desired field performance.
蚊子和其他用于不育昆虫技术（SIT）的昆虫一样，经历了包括实验室定殖和大规模工厂生产在内的几个非自然过程。在这些过程之后，不育雄蚊必须执行定位和与野生雌蚊交配的自然任务。因此，定殖和生产过程必须保留这些功能所必需的特征。幸运的是，与自然选择有利于提高整体适应性的一系列特征不同，SIT 的定殖和生产实践努力最大化仅对有效控制种群所需的少数几个质量。然而，由于缺乏数据，一些适当的特征存在相当大的不确定性。其他应用的生物制品的开发表明，有可能识别和修改竞争力特征，以便生产具有竞争力的大量生产的不育蚊子。通过蚊子的定殖、生产以及将这些特征与田间性能联系起来的研究，已经实现了这一目标。在其他昆虫 SIT 计划和水产养殖方面的研究中也存在类似的情况，这些研究为大量生产蚊子提供了重要的技术参考点，这些蚊子的大部分发展过程（以及特征的确定）都发生在水生环境中。需要进一步研究的领域很多，包括：饮食、大量处理以及影响交配竞争力的遗传和生理因素。在考虑所需的田间性能时，应该仔细考虑由于增加数量或降低成本的要求而导致的这些特征的妥协。
