A genetic weapon to combat the spotted wing fruit fly
Once seen only in Japan, D. suzukii has now invaded every continent except Antarctica. It made its way to the United States 10 years ago, where it has decimated up to 80% of crops in some places. California’s raspberry industry alone lost nearly $40 million in revenue between 2009 and 2014. Current control strategies depend heavily on an insecticide called malathion, but it’s not always effective and there are concerns the fly will develop resistance.
According to sciencemag.org, scientists have tried a gene drive approach in fruit flies before. In 2007, molecular biologist Bruce Hay of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and colleagues created a particular version of it called Medea (short for Maternal Effect Dominant Embryonic Arrest, but also named after the Greek mythological figure who murdered her own children) in D. melanogaster, another species of fruit fly. The team endowed the flies with an extra gene that kills offspring unless they also have an extra copy of another gene that counteracts it. By supplying both the “toxin” and its “antidote,” Medea can spread quickly through a population, as only offspring with the gene combination will survive.
