Genetically engineered insects with sex-selection and genetic incompatibility enable population suppression
Ambuj Upadhyay,
Nathan R Feltman,
Adam Sychla,
Anna Janzen,
Siba R Das,
Maciej Maselko,
Michael Smanski
Affiliations
Ambuj Upadhyay
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Nathan R Feltman
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Adam Sychla
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Anna Janzen
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Siba R Das
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Maciej Maselko
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Biophysics, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States; Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, Saint Paul, United States
Engineered Genetic Incompatibility (EGI) is a method to create species-like barriers to sexual reproduction. It has applications in pest control that mimic Sterile Insect Technique when only EGI males are released. This can be facilitated by introducing conditional female-lethality to EGI strains to generate a sex-sorting incompatible male system (SSIMS). Here, we demonstrate a proof of concept by combining tetracycline-controlled female lethality constructs with a pyramus-targeting EGI line in the model insect Drosophila melanogaster. We show that both functions (incompatibility and sex-sorting) are robustly maintained in the SSIMS line and that this approach is effective for population suppression in cage experiments. Further we show that SSIMS males remain competitive with wild-type males for reproduction with wild-type females, including at the level of sperm competition.
