Y-linked markers for improved population control of the tephritid fruit fly pest, Anastrepha suspensa

Insect pest control programs incorporating the sterile insect technique (SIT) rely on the mass production and release of sterilized insects to reduce the wild-type population through infertile matings. Most effective programs release only males to avoid any crop damage caused by female fruit flies or transmission of disease by female mosquitoes. Therefore, the females have to be eliminated, preferably in an early developmental stage, during mass rearing. Different systems and techniques have been created for the sex separation of a few insect species. One of these is the transgenic sex-specific fluorescent protein marking of the insects with automated fluorescent-based sorting of the individuals to achieve sex separation. Here we describe the Y-linked integration of fluorescent markers driven by the widely active Drosophila melanogaster polyubiquitin promoter in the Caribfly, Anastrepha suspensa. Four strains with Y-linked integrations were established with one line expressing the DsRed fluorescent protein marker during embryogenesis. This line now has the possibility for use with automated sex separation in rearing, and the same transgene markers could be used in other insects for similar applications.