Tetracycline has no long-term effects on gut physiology and microbiome of the New World screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, which has positive implications for transgenic male-only rearing systems

Insect control programs utilizing the sterile insect technique (SIT) are more efficient when all insects released are male. One approach to producing all males in a mass-rearing setting is development of tetracycline-repressible (Tet-Off) transgenic sexing systems. Tetracycline can have adverse impacts on insect health, therefore we reared screwworm, Cochliomyia hominivorax, like Tet-Off strains to investigate the impact on fitness, the midgut microbiota, and midgut transcriptomes. Overall, the impacts on the microbiota and transcriptome did not have adverse effects on the strain fitness, and changes caused by tetracycline exposure were not inherited by the offspring mimicking a male-only generation. RNA-seq profiling of midguts from production Cochliomyia hominivorax larval and adult flies before, during, and after rearing with tetracycline.