Transcriptional response of the Mexican fruit fly, Anastrepha ludens (Loew), to desiccation: implications for the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)

Confronting environments with low relative humidity is one of the primary challenges to insects expanding their range of distribution. Anastrepha ludens (the Mexican fruit fly) has evolved to cope with the variable conditions encountered during their lifetime, a character that allows them to colonize a wide range of environments. The SIT, based in the releases of mass reared sterile males, is a specific method of control of wild populations of this tephritid. However, natural variability among environments represent an important problem for the use of SIT since mass reared flies are produced under constant temperature and relative humidity conditions. In this study, we performed transcriptomic analyses to compare the molecular responses of laboratory-reared A. ludens exposed and unexposed to desiccation. Data from the transcriptome analyses indicated that the responses to desiccation are shared by both sexes. We found the up-regulation of transcripts encoding proteins involved in lipid metabolism and membrane remodeling, as well as proteases and cuticular proteins. Our results provide a framework for understanding the response to desiccation stress in one of the most invasive fruit flies in the world and can be use to releasing decisions.