Combining transinfected and a genetic sexing strain to control in laboratory-controlled conditions.

The global expansion of has stimulated the development of environmentally friendly methods aiming to control disease transmission through the suppression of natural vector populations. Sterile male release programmes are currently being deployed worldwide, and are challenged by the availability of an efficient sex separation which can be achieved mechanically at the pupal stage and/or by artificial intelligence at the adult stage, or through genetic sexing, which allows separating males and females at an early development stage. In this study, we combined the genetic sexing strain previously established based on the linkage of dieldrin resistance to the male locus with a transinfected line. For this, we introduced either the Pip-I or the Pip-IV strain from in an asymbiotic -free . line. We then measured the penetrance of cytoplasmic incompatibility and life-history traits of both transinfected lines, selected the Pip-IV line and combined it with the genetic sexing strain. Population suppression experiments demonstrated a 90% reduction in population size and a 50% decrease in hatching rate. Presented results showed that such a combination has a high potential in terms of vector control but also highlighted associated fitness costs, which should be reduced before large-scale field assay.