Fluorescent-based sex-separation technique in major invasive crop pest, Drosophila suzukii

Abstract

Insect population biocontrol methods such as the sterile insect technique (SIT), represent promising alternatives to traditional pesticide-based control applications. To use these strategies efficiently requires scalable sex separation techniques which are currently lacking in Drosophila suzukii, a prominent crop pest species. Having previously characterized a fluorescence-based sex-sorting technique in other pests, termed SEPARATOR (Sexing Element Produced by Alternative RNA-splicing of A Transgenic Observable Reporter), here we explore its potential applicability to Drosophila suzukii. Here, we engineer several strains of Drosophila suzukii encoding SEPARATOR constructs that allow for efficient sex selection in early larval stages.