Genetic sexing technique for a mosquito sterile male release

Abstract

DURING the course of an experiment to assess the efficiency of a breeding system to detect visible and lethal mutants on chromosome 3, a dominant, temperature-sensitive lethal (DTS) was discovered in the mosquito, Culex tritaeniorhynchus Giles, an important arbovirus vector. This DTS lethal, designated L(3)1^DTS but here referrred to as DTS-1, survives at 26 °C but dies at 32 °C during the larval stages. It was recovered after treatment with 0.005 M ethyl methanesulphonate (EMS). The isolation of a sex-linked DTS in a vector species of medical or agricultural importance may be valuable as a sexing device in a release programme involving either males sterilised directly by radiation or chemosterilants or males carrying genetic aberrations that give high semisterility.