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PLoS One

Title:		"Field longevity of a fluorescent protein marker in an engineered strain of the pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders)"
Author(s):		Walters M; Morrison NI; Claus J; Tang G; Phillips CE; Young R; Zink RT; Alphey L;
Address:		"Animal Plant Health and Inspection Service, Centers for Plant Health Science and Technology, United States Department of Agriculture, Phoenix, Arizona, United States of America"
Journal Title:		PLoS One
Year:		2012
Volume:		20120605
Issue:		6
Page Number:		e38547 -
DOI:		10.1371/journal.pone.0038547
ISSN/ISBN:		1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking)
Abstract:		"The cotton pest, pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella (Saunders)), is a significant pest in most cotton-growing areas around the world. In southwestern USA and northern Mexico, pink bollworm is the target of the sterile insect technique (SIT), which relies on the mass-release of sterile pink bollworm adults to over-flood the wild population and thereby reduce it over time. Sterile moths reared for release are currently marked with a dye provided in their larval diet. There are concerns, however, that this marker fails from time to time, leading to sterile moths being misidentified in monitoring traps as wild moths. This can lead to expensive reactionary releases of sterile moths. We have developed a genetically marked strain that is engineered to express a fluorescent protein, DsRed2, which is easily screened under a specialised microscope. In order to test this marker under field conditions, we placed wild-type and genetically marked moths on traps and placed them in field cages. The moths were then screened, in a double-blind fashion, for DsRed2 fluorescence at regular intervals to determine marker reliability over time. The marker was shown to be robust in very high temperatures and generally proved reliable for a week or longer. More importantly, genotyping of moths on traps by PCR screening of the moths was 100% correct. Our findings indicate that this strain--and fluorescent protein markers in general--could make a valuable contribution to SIT"
Keywords:		Animals Genotype Longevity/genetics/physiology Luminescent Proteins/genetics/metabolism Moths/*genetics/*metabolism/physiology;
Notes:		"MedlineWalters, Michelle Morrison, Neil I Claus, John Tang, Guolei Phillips, Caroline E Young, Robin Zink, Richard T Alphey, Luke eng 2012/06/14 PLoS One. 2012; 7(6):e38547. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0038547. Epub 2012 Jun 5"