The spotted wing fruit fly is one of the world’s major crop destroyers. Scientifically known as Drosophila suzukii, this peppercorn-size insect uses a serrated organ to lay its eggs inside—rather than on top of—unripe fruit, damaging raspberry, strawberry, and cherry crops across the globe. Now, scientists may have found a way to fight this pest using a strategy called gene drive, which can spread genes rapidly through a population. When coupled with a lethal “cargo gene,” the approach could kill the flies in their tracks when exposed to a specific chemical compound, or just simple summertime heat.
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[E]xperts say [Anna] Buchman’s team will need to show that its version of Medea can stick around in a population for a long period of time—something that’s still unclear, says Max Scott, a geneticist at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He points out that Buchman’s version of the gene drive “didn’t work anywhere near as well” as it did in [Bruce] Hay’s original work, because Medea disappeared from the flies in two long-term experiments and some wild D. suzukii flies appeared immune to Medea’s toxin. “To get something that will actually work in the field presents a pretty big challenge.”Read full, original post: Can a genetic weapon combat one of the world’s major crop destroyers?
