Genetic analysis of medfly populations in an area of sterile insect technique applications

The sterile insect technique (SIT) is widely used in integrated pest management programs for the control of the Mediterranean fruit fly (medfly), Ceratitis capitata. The genetic interactions between the released individuals from the genetic sexing strains (GSS), used for SIT applications worldwide, and wild individuals have not been studied. Under the hypothesis that a number of Vienna GSS individuals released to the field might not be completely sterile and may produce viable offspring, we have analyzed medfly Spanish field populations to evaluate the presence of Vienna strain genetic markers. The detection of several of these markers in single individuals represents evidence of the introgression of the Vienna strain into natural populations. However, alternative explanations as their presence at low frequency in wild populations in the studied areas cannot be fully discarded. In this context, this Bioproject continues the work done on PRJEB40829, by studying transcriptomic data from a different medfly strain collected in citrus orchards treated with malathion in Spain.