SBIR Phase II: Development of genetically modified sterile insects for biocontrol

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响将是以最小的化学影响改善虫害控制。由于昆虫对人类健康的影响和对农业的损失，每年对世界经济造成的威胁超过100亿美元。目前使用化学杀虫剂控制昆虫的方法有些有效，但对环境构成严重威胁。该公司正在开发一种基于基因的昆虫控制技术。这种方法可能非常有效，对环境的影响最小，而且实施起来成本效益高。这项技术广泛适用于任何有性繁殖的有机体，这可能使应用程序超出斑点果蝇的第一个预定目标。未来可能的应用包括控制对公共卫生重要的昆虫，如蚊子或扁虱、其他农业害虫和入侵物种。拟议的项目旨在利用遗传学解决化学杀虫剂带来的问题，以及与广泛采用不育昆虫技术相关的问题：(I)仅对雄性昆虫进行分类，(Ii)费力的释放过程和(Iii)不可扩展的操作。该项目的目标是创建一个原型，并验证其控制最初目标昆虫斑点翅果蝇的能力。该项目还将调查已开发的用于商业生产的遗传系统的健壮性。这一研究项目将扩大昆虫转基因及其用于生物控制的科学知识。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to improve insect control with minimal chemical impact. Due to their impact on human health and losses to agriculture, insects pose threats upwards of $10 billion/year to the world economy. Current methods of insect control using chemical insecticides are somewhat effective but pose a grave threat to the environment. The company is developing a genetic-based insect control technology. This approach can be very effective, have minimal environmental impact and be cost effective to implement. The technology is broadly applicable to any sexually reproducing organism, which could enable applications beyond the first intended target of spotted wing drosophila. Likely future applications include control of insects important for public health, such as mosquitoes or ticks, other agricultural pests, and invasive species. The proposed project is designed to use genetics to solve issues posed by chemical insecticides and issues associated with broad adoption of sterile insect techniques: (i) sorting of male only insects, (ii) laborious release processes and (iii) non-scalable operation. The objective of this project is to create a prototype and verify its ability to control the initial target insect, spotted wing drosophila. The project will also investigate the robustness of the developed genetic system for commercial production. This research project will expand scientific knowledge of insect transgenesis and their use for biocontrol.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.