Advanced Approaches for the Development of Genetic Sexing Strains for Sterile Insect Technique Applications

Climate change and globalization have been playing a critical role in the expansion of the ecological range of invasive species including insect pests and disease vectors. This has increased requests from Member States to develop and apply the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) as a component of area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programmes for their population control. Although SIT can be carried out with sterile releases of both males and females, it has been shown that male-only releases are more efficient and cost-effective. In the case of insect disease vectors, such as mosquitoes, the removal of females before the release of sterile insects is critically important as females are the ones that bite, blood feed, and transmit human pathogens. Male-only production and releases can be achieved through genetic sexing strains, which allow the separation or elimination of females as early in their development as possible.
This new CRP aims to establish a comprehensive framework for advancing the development of genetic sexing strains (GSS) to improve the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of the SIT within AW-IPM programs. The focus will be on leveraging innovative genetic, molecular, biotechnological, and AI-based robotic tools to address key knowledge gaps including the transfer of genetic markers for sexing to novel target species, the generation and analysis of complex datasets to understand sex chromosome structure and evolution, and to develop next-generation GSS systems for target pest species. The anticipated outcome is a significant enhancement of SIT implementation, contributing to environmentally sustainable pest and vector control globally.