References

 

J. Agric. Food Chem., 50 (25), pp 7271–7276.

Mahrouz Mostafa, Lacroix Monique, D'Aprano Giuseppe, Oufedjikh Hafida, Boubekri Cheikh, and Gagnon Marcel

Food Technology in Australia, 22: 664-667

Radiosterilization & Radiopreservation--Foods; N28610 --Life Sciences--Radiation Effects on Animals--Invertebrates; AUSTRALIA; BANANAS; DISINFESTATION; EGGS; FLAVOR; FRUIT FLIES; GAMMA RADIATION; IRRADIATION; LARVAE; PUPAE; RADIATION DOSES EGGS/radiation effects on survival of fruit fly, on bananas,; GAMMARADIATION/effects on survival of eggs and pupae of fruit flies on bananas; PUPAE/radiation effects on survival of fruit fly, on bananas,; FRUITS/bananas,radiation processing of, survival of eggs and pupae of fruit flies following; INSECTA/Dacus strumeta, radiation effects on survival of eggs and pupae of,on bananas,

Eric B.; LeCompte J.; Klein S.; Kricker W.

RADIATION, DOSES, EGGS, effects, survival, fruit fly, effect on bananas

Florida Entomologist, 99(sp1):95-104. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1653/024.099.sp113

One of the most important components of a program that has a sterile insect technique (SIT) component is an appropriate irradiation dose. Knowing the organismal dose-response enables the selection of a dose that induces the highest level of sterility while preserving the sexual competitiveness and other desired qualities of the sterile insect. Finding this balance in Lepidoptera is crucial because of the use of inherited (F1) sterility, where the irradiated parent must be competitive enough to mate while its offspring must be sterile. Manipulations of atmospheric oxygen content have been shown to be an effective way of lowering post-irradiation somatic damage while preserving sterility and improving sterile insect performance, particularly in fruit flies. In this study we tested the irradiation dose response of adults of the cactus moth, Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), and the effects of those doses on sterility, longevity, and F1 performance, and whether a nitrogen conditioning-treatment (anoxia) prior to and during irradiation affected these metrics. We found that male and female fecundities were not impacted by dose or atmospheric treatment, but females were sterilized at lower doses than males. Eggs of irradiated parents took longer to hatch than those of unirradiated controls, and offspring of moths irradiated in anoxia lived longer in the absence of food and water. Anoxia conditioning rescued female fertility at intermediate doses but had no similar rescue effect on male fertility, which was always greater than female fertility at a given dose. Males generally lived longer than females and anoxia had a strong effect in lowering the male mortality rate and extending lifespan at a given dose. We show evidence that anoxia-conditioning prior to and during irradiation as part of a lepidopteran program with an SIT component could improve parental and larval performance and longevity.

López-Martínez Giancarlo, Carpenter James E., Hight Stephen D. and Hahn Daniel A.

sterile insect technique; dose response; invasive species; inherited (F1) sterility

International Journal of Research in Agricultural Sciences vol.3 n.4, 2348-3997

Phytosanitary practices based on the extensive use of insecticides in citrus groves to control the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata may cause the resurgence of resistant strains of this pest, the emergence of secondary pests by elimination of their natural enemies, and increase the growing public concerns over issues related to public health, environmental quality, and food safety. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop an alternative and environmentally compatible method for C.capitata management. This study evaluated the efficacy of treatments using kaolin, spinosad bait or the protein bait application technique (BAT), and assess how these different treatments may be associated with improved control of C.capitata on several citrus varieties. Experiments were conducted in citrus orchards in the Gharb area (North-western part of Morocco): plots of Clementine (Citrus reticulata, var. Cadoux), sweet orange (C.sinensis, var. Hamlin; Washington Navel and Thomson). Success bait (spinosad + food attractant), kaolin suspension and protein bait application technique, based either on deltamethrin (dBAT) or malathion (mBAT) were applied on citrus plots against C.capitata. The effect of these treatments on fruit infestation by C.capitata was also assessed. At harvest, a sample of 1000 fruits was picked randomly from each plot and examined to assess the infestation percentage. There were fewer medfly captured and lower associated fruit infestation in the plots treated with the kaolin compared to those treated with BAT or spinosad. Kaolin used at a low concentration (1.4%) showed a similar level of infestation to spinosad. Based on these field results, it appears that sweet orange (C.sinensis, var. Hamlin) is the most tolerant to C.capitata infestation. The feasibility of combining resistant citrus varieties with these alternative methods of population management is discussed; and will be considered in the development of an integrated pest management strategy against C. capitata in citrus groves in Morocco.

Smaili M.C., Bakri A., Gaboune F. , Bouharroud R. and Blenzar A.

Morocco, Citrus, Varieties, Medfly, Integrated Pest Management.

Archives of Insect Biochemistry and Physiology [online print february 2016]; DOI: 10.1002/arch.21330

The sterile insect technique (SIT) was developed to eradicate the new world screwworm from the southern United States and Mexico, and became a component of many area-wide integrated pest management programs, particularly useful in managing tephritid fruit flies. SIT is based on the idea of rearing and sterilizing male pests, originally by ionizing radiation, and then releasing into field, where they compete for and mate with wild females. Mating with sterile males leads to reduced fecundity to lower pest populations. There are concerns with the use and distribution of radioisotopes for SIT programs, which have led to developing X-ray irradiation protocols to sterilize insects. We considered the possibility that X-ray irradiation exerts sublethal impacts aside form sterilizing insects. Such effects may not be directly observable, which led us to the hypothesis that X-ray irradiation in one life stage creates alterations in biological fitness and protein expression in the subsequent stage. We tested our hypothesis by irradiating larvae of Bactrocera dorsalis. There are two major points. One, exposing larvae to X-ray treatments led to reduced adult emergence, fecundity, fertility, and flight capacity from the corresponding pupae and emerged adults. Two, the X-ray treatments led to substantial expression changes in 27 pupal proteins. We assorted the 67 spots representing these proteins into three groups, metabolism, development, and structure. Our interpretation is these X-ray induced changes in biological performance and protein expression indicate their adult counterparts may be disabled in their abilities to successfully compete for and mate wild females in native habitats.

Chang CL , Goodman CL , Ringbauer J , Geib SM , Stanley D

radiation;chitin;oriental fruit fly;gene expression

Insect Molecular Biology. doi: 10.1111/imb.12205 (Article first published online: 11 DEC 2015)

Speckled (Spc), an X-ray-induced lethal mutant of Bombyx mori, exhibits a mosaic dark-brown-spotted larval epidermis in both sexes and egg-laying problems only in females. Here, we report the morphological characterization and molecular mapping of the Spc mutant. Morphological investigations revealed that the epidermal ultrastructure of the small, dark-brown spots was more dense than that of the white regions in both Spc/+ mutants and wild type, and that the lethality of the Spc/Spc mutants occurred during early embryogenesis. Furthermore, the ovarioles and ovipositor were disconnected in approximately 85.5% of Spc/+ females, a further 2.5% had a connection between the ovarioles and ovipositor that was too narrow to lay eggs. The remaining females showed a normal connection similar to that of the wild type. We successfully narrowed down the location of the Spc mutation to a region on chromosome 4 that was ∼1041 kb long. Gene-prediction analysis identified 25 candidate genes in this region. Chromosome structure analysis indicated that a ∼305 kb deletion was included in the mapping region. Temporal and spatial reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) analysis showed that several genes in the mapped region are associated with the Spc mutant. Although the genes responsible for the Spc mutation were not definitively identified, our results further the current understanding of the complex mechanism underlying the multiple morphological defects in Spc mutants.

Tan, D., Tong, X.-L., Hu, H., Wu, S.-Y., Li, C.-L., Xiong, G., Xiang, Z.-H., Dai, F.-Y. and Lu, C.

Bombyx mori;speckled mutant;phenotypic analysis;molecular mapping;autosomal fragment deletion

Journal of Insect Physiology Volume 85, Pages 17–22; DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2015.11.011

Female remating in target pest species can affect the efficacy of control methods such as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) but very little is known about the postcopulatory mating behavior of these pests. In this study, we investigated the remating behavior of female Anastrepha serpentina (Diptera: Tephritidae), an oligophagous pest of Sapotaceae. First, we tested how long the sexual refractory period of females lasted after an initial mating. Second, we tested the effect of male and female sterility, female ovipositing opportunities and male density on female propensity to remate. Lastly, we tested if the amount of sperm stored by females was correlated to the likelihood of females to remate. We found that receptivity of mass-reared A. serpentina females had a bimodal response, with up to 16% of mass-reared A. serpentina females remating five days after the initial copulation, decreasing to 2% at 10 and 15 days and increasing to 13% after 20 days. Compared to fertile males, sterile males were less likely to mate and less likely to inhibit females from remating. Copula duration of sterile males was shorter compared to fertile males. Remating females were less likely to mate with a sterile male as a second mate. Sterile females were less likely to mate or remate compared to fertile females. Opportunity to oviposit and male density had no effect on female remating probability. Sperm numbers were not correlated with female likelihood to remate. Information on the post-copulatory behavior of mass-reared A. serpentina will aid fruit fly managers in improving the quality of sterile males. We discuss our results in terms of the differences this species presents in female remating behavior compared to other tephritids.

Landeta-Escamilla A., Hernández Emilio, Arredondo José, Díaz-Fleischer Francisco, Pérez-Staples Diana

Sperm; Mating inhibition; SIT; Mass-production; Tephritidae

Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am. 76: 51–55. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aesa/76.1.51

Mating preference of laboratory-reared and wild Mediterranean fruit flies, Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) (medfly), was studied in field cages. When laboratory-reared flies unirradiated and irradiated with 7, 10, 13, and 16 krad in N2 and dyed were compared with wild flies, mating speed of unirradiated, laboratory-reared flies was faster than that of wild flies. The unirradiated, laboratory-reared males preferred mating with unirradiated, laboratory-reared females, and wild males preferred mating with wild females. When laboratory-reared flies irradiated at 7, 10, 13, and 16 krad in N2 were paired with wild flies, however, mating speed was similar for both strains and mating became random apparently because the mating speed of the irradiated, laboratory-reared flies was reduced. In the tests combining flies exposed to all six treatments (laboratory-reared flies irradiated at 7, 10, 13, and 16 krad in N2, unirradiated flies, and wild flies) in one cage, those wild females which mated, mated equally well with wild males, and laboratory-reared males showing no preference and those laboratory males which mated, mated equally well with wild or laboratory females, again showing no preference.

Wong, T.T.Y., J. I. Nishimoto, andH.M. Couey

Diptera; Tephritidae, competition, medfly; irradiation

In: Vreysen MJB, Robinson AS, Hendrichs J. (ed) Area-Wide Control of Insect Pests from research to field implementation. Springer, Netherlands, pp 497‒504

fields, and ditches of an herbicide that selectively kills key spring broad leaf hosts of the tarnished plant bug Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) was developed and implemented in four 23 square kilometre areas. Overall mean numbers of tarnished plant bug adults and nymphs were significantly lower in treated-area cotton. The average reductions in overall mean numbers of plant bugs in the treated areas were 45.5 and 47% for adults and nymphs, respectively, from 1999-2001. Economists at Mississippi State University conducted an analysis of the programme used on over 8400 hectares of cotton in 1999-2001, and demonstrated that the technology produced savings of USD 14.59/ha in insecticide costs (herbicide application included). An environmental impact study conducted by Louisiana State University, detected no to extremely low levels of herbicide residue in run-off water from conducting the programme. Research is currently being conducted to investigate the use of a fungal entomopathogen, sterile males, and parasitoids to augment or replace the use of herbicides.

ABEL C.A, SNODGRASS G.L. and GORE J.

Tarnished plant bug, Lygus lineolaris, cotton, marginal areas, early season wild host plant, area-wide suppression, herbicides

Atti Accad Naz Ital Entomol Rendiconti Anno LXI:239–246 http://www.accademiaentomologia.it/Rendiconti/2013/06l_Musmeci.pdf

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Oliver) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae), a weevil native to South- eastern Asia and Melanesia where it is a serious pest of coconuts, is considered the most dangerous pest of Canarian palm trees and date palm trees in Southern Europe, Northern Africa and Middle Asia. Aim of this work was to evaluate the feasibility to control the weevil pest by implementation of sterile insect technique (SIT) , particularly useful in area-wide IPM programs. Bioassays carried out at the ENEA C. R. Casaccia facilities were addressed to test the effects of different doses of γ rays on the weevil reproductive physiology and mating behavior. In spite of the apparent drawbacks in reproductive behavior of females observed in field (polyandry and high levels of fertility), laboratory experiment s satisfy some important requisites for the application of this technique (last male sperm precedence, high vitality and ability of mating of irradiated males) and suggest the possibility to use SIT in particular geographical contexts. Results and perspectiv es are discussed

Musmeci S, Cristofaro M, Arnone S, Sasso R, Baccaro S, Pasquali A, Catarci S

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, Sterile Insect Technique, red palm weevil, integrated pest management

Bull. Entomol. Res. 103:241–250

Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera, Curculionidae) is the most threatening pest of palms worldwide. The potential of gamma-irradiated males to spread a pathogenic strain of the entomopathogenic fungus Beauveria bassiana (Ascomycota: Clavicipitaceae) to control this pest was studied. First, the effects of gamma irradiation (15 and 25 Gy) on the mating success and performance of adult males irradiated at age one day were studied in the laboratory. Although male longevity decreased after irradiation (118.6 vs. 244.7 days for irradiated and control males, respectively) and their testes suffered from the treatment, fecundity of mated females did not depend on the irradiation status of the male (86.8±5.5 eggs in 15 days). However, egg hatching was significantly lower in couples with irradiated males (31.4% vs. 86.5% for irradiated and control couples, respectively), and this value decreased after a second mating (6.1% vs. 85.9%). Therefore, irradiation did not affect male sexual competiveness but sperm quality. Second, a semi-field assay was carried out to evaluate infestation in young Phoenix canariensis caused by different combinations of couples with irradiated and/or B. bassiana -challenged males. The number of immature stages found in infested palms was significantly higher when females mated with untreated males and lower when mated with irradiated males (either B. bassiana -infected or not). Some females from the fungus-challenged treatments showed post-mortem hyphal growth, and this horizontal transmission proves that irradiated males could act as a vector for B. bassiana and should be considered as a new method to improve the biological control of R. ferrugineus.

Llácer E, Santiago-Álvarez C, Jacas JA

gamma irradiation, horizontal transmission, entomopathogenic fungus, palm pest, Phoenix canariensis , autodissemination, sterile males

J. Rediat. Res. Appl. Sci. 7:110-115. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jrras.2013.12.007

Three substerilizing doses 50, 100 and 150 Gy of gamma radiation were tested against full grown male and female pupae or against full-grown male or female pupae of Agrotis ipsilon. The results showed that fecundity of irradiated females crossed with irradiated males was decreased by increasing irradiation dose. The decrease in egg hatchability % and increase in sterility % induced by gamma radiation were found to be positively correlated with the dose level. The parentage of larval and pupal mortality increased significantly (p

Salem HM, Fouda MA, Abas A A, Ali WM, Gabarty A ().

Gamma irradiation Substerilizing doses Agrotis ipsilon