CONSTRUCTION AND ADAPTATION OF GENETIC SEXING STRAIN OF THE MEDFLY CERATITIS CAPITATA (WIED.)BASED ON TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE MUTATION IN THE EGYPTIAN FRUITFLY LABORATORIES

Special strains that produce only males are used now for the control of the medfly Ceratitis capitata using the sterile insect technique. The use of these strains has a major impact on the overall efficiency of SIT, by increasing significantly the amount of sterility induced in field population comparing by using bisexual strains. Genetic sexing strains (GSS) are based on the use of male-linked chromosomal translocations which enable selectable marker genes to be linked to the male sex. Two basic components are required in the medfly to construct and adapt a laboratory strain which exhibits genetic sexing properties. The first is Y-auto some translocation strain, which enables male and female pupae to be differentiated on the basis of colour and the second is temperature sensitive lethal (tsl) mutation strain, which enables females to be killed by an increase in ambient temperature