Agric For Entomol 2018 May 21;20(2):131-140. Epub 2017 Jun 21.
Mathematical Ecology Research Group, Department of Zoology, South Parks Road Oxford OX1 3PS U.K.
The sterile insect technique is an area-wide pest control method that reduces agricultural pest populations by releasing mass-reared sterile insects, which then compete for mates with wild insects. Contemporary genetics-based technologies use insects that are homozygous for a repressible dominant lethal genetic construct rather than being sterilized by irradiation.Engineered strains of agricultural pest species, including moths such as the diamondback moth Plutella xylostella and fruit flies such as the Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata, have been developed with lethality that only operates on females. Read More