AUTOCIDAL BIOLOGICAL-CONTROL - A GENERAL STRATEGY FOR INSECT CONTROL-BASED ON GENETIC-TRANSFORMATION WITH A HIGHLY CONSERVED GENE

Notch(60g11) is a sex-linked mutation in Drosophila melanogaster (Meigen) (Diptera: Drosophilidae) that causes dominant, cold-sensitive lethality in heterozygous embryos. A population of normal D, melanogaster was driven to extinction by adding an equal number of homozygous Notch(60g11) mutants to each of 3 successive generations at 18 degrees C. Notch(60g11) homozygotes raised at 26 degrees C showed normal viability and mating success, even in competition with a wild-type insect population, presumably because of the developmental stage-specificity of the Notch(60g11) mutation. The Notch(60g11) mutants used in this test were intended to model the transgenic insects that may be produced in other species by genetic transformation with a genetically engineered mutant gene similar to Notch(60g11). Therefore, our mutant strain carried not only 2 copies of the Notch(60g11) mutant gene on one pair of chromosomes, but also 2 copies of the normal Notch gene on another pair of chromosomes. Because Notch(60g11) is a frameshift mutation in a gene that is highly conserved in arthropods and vertebrates, this autocidal biological control strategy could be used in any insect species that reproduces sexually and lives in a temperate climate.