Determining the Sterilization Doses under Hypoxia for the Novel Black Pupae Genetic Sexing Strain of (Diptera, Tephritidae).

A common strategy used to maintain sterile fly quality without sacrificing sterility is to irradiate the insects under an oxygen-reduced atmosphere. So far, sterilizing doses for the South American fruit fly have only been determined under normoxia. Our study reports for the first time the dose-sterility response under hypoxia for two different strains. The pupae were derived from a bisexual strain (a Brazilian-1 population) and a recently developed genetic sexing strain (GSS-89). Two hours prior to irradiation, pupae were transferred to sealed glass bottles and irradiated when oxygen concentration was below 3%. Four types of crosses with nonirradiated flies of the bisexual strain were set to assess sterility for each radiation dose. For males from both strains, Weibull dose-response curves between radiation doses and the proportion of egg hatch, egg-to-pupa recovery, and recovery of adults were determined. The GSS males revealed high sterility/mortality levels compared to males from the bisexual strain at doses < 40 Gy, but a dose of 74 Gy reduced egg hatch by 99% regardless of the male strain and was considered the sterilizing dose. The fertility of irradiated females was severely affected even at low doses under hypoxia.