Bionic flies could save crops

New research suggests that releasing genetically engineered fruit flies into the wild could prove a cheap, effective and environmentally friendly way of pest control.

Scientists at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and Oxford-based Oxitec Ltd have conducted trials in a simulated wild environment in a Crete greenhouse. The next stage will be to gain approval for open-field studies.

Oxitec has developed a genetic approach to control medfly that is species specific and cost effective that relies on males passing on a self-limiting trait to female offspring.

This collaborative research study with UEA shows that the approach is effective and once appropriate regulatory approvals are received the technology will offer growers a safe and effective route to protect their crops.

Currently medfly causes crop losses in many parts of the world where it is an introduced, invasive and difficult to control pest as well as its native Mediterranean habitat. The partners now reveal that the release of genetically engineered male flies could be used as an effective population suppression method saving crops around the world.

The Mediterranean fruit fly is a serious agricultural pest which causes extensive damage to crops. It is currently controlled by a combination of insecticides, baited traps, biological control and releasing sterilised insects to produce non-viable matings, known as the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT).

Researchers simulated a wild environment within greenhouses in Crete and studied the impact of releasing Oxitec flies.

Lead researcher Dr Philip Leftwich, from UEAs school of Biological Sciences and Oxitec, said: The Mediterranean Fruit Fly infests more than 300 types of cultivated and wild fruits, vegetables and nuts. It is a real pest to agriculture and causes extreme damage to crops all around the world.

Of all of the current techniques used to control these flies, SIT is considered the most environmentally friendly as it uses sterile males to interrupt matings between wild males and females. The downside is that these males dont tend to mate as well in the wild because the irradiation method used for sterilisation weakens them.

Our research looked at whether releasing Oxitec flies, which are genetically engineered so that only male fly offspring survive, could provide a better alternative.

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Bionic flies could save crops