Award details

Genetic control of agricultural pest insects

Reference	BB/C517909/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Luke Alphey
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	University of Oxford
Department	Zoology
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	320,552
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/03/2005
End date	29/02/2008
Duration	36 months

Abstract

A major challenge for modern agriculture is to control pest species while minimising the adverse consequences to the environment. An attractive option, widely used in the USA and beyond, but little used in Europe, is the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT), in which sterile insects are released to mate with wild pest females. I have proposed that major improvements to this technique are possible through the application of modern genetics to pest insects, and demonstrated that insect strains with the required genetic properties can indeed be constructed, at least for the well-known (non-pest) genetic model insect Drosophila melanogaster. In particular, we and others have shown that major advantages can be obtained by the used of a genetic system which can selectively eliminate females from the release population, and also in the field, particularly if multiple copies of such a system can be combined in a single insect strain. The aim of this proposal is to develop these theoretical ideas into a working model in a real pest insect.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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