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Nat Biotechnol

Title:		Female-specific insect lethality engineered using alternative splicing
Author(s):		Fu G; Condon KC; Epton MJ; Gong P; Jin L; Condon GC; Morrison NI; Dafa'alla TH; Alphey L;
Address:		"Oxitec Limited, 71 Milton Park, Oxford OX14 4RX, UK"
Journal Title:		Nat Biotechnol
Year:		2007
Volume:		20070218
Issue:		3
Page Number:		353 - 357
DOI:		10.1038/nbt1283
ISSN/ISBN:		1087-0156 (Print) 1087-0156 (Linking)
Abstract:		"The Sterile Insect Technique is a species-specific and environmentally friendly method of pest control involving mass release of sterilized insects that reduce the wild population through infertile matings. Insects carrying a female-specific autocidal genetic system offer an attractive alternative to conventional sterilization methods while also eliminating females from the release population. We exploited sex-specific alternative splicing in insects to engineer female-specific autocidal genetic systems in the Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata. These rely on the insertion of cassette exons from the C. capitata transformer gene into a heterologous tetracycline-repressible transactivator such that the transactivator transcript is disrupted in male splice variants but not in the female-specific one. As the key components of these systems function across a broad phylogenetic range, this strategy addresses the paucity of sex-specific expression systems (e.g., early-acting, female-specific promoters) in insects other than Drosophila melanogaster. The approach may have wide applicability for regulating gene expression in other organisms, particularly for combinatorial control with appropriate promoters"
Keywords:		"*Alternative Splicing Animals Animals, Genetically Modified Ceratitis capitata/*genetics Drosophila Proteins Female Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects Infertility, Female/*genetics Insect Control/*methods Nuclear Proteins/*genetics Population Dynamic;"
Notes:		"MedlineFu, Guoliang Condon, Kirsty C Epton, Matthew J Gong, Peng Jin, Li Condon, George C Morrison, Neil I Dafa'alla, Tarig H Alphey, Luke eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2007/02/27 Nat Biotechnol. 2007 Mar; 25(3):353-7. doi: 10.1038/nbt1283. Epub 2007 Feb 18"