CRISPR-based Breakthrough: A New Self-Limiting Genetic Tool to Control the Mediterranean Fruit Fly

React Insect

CRISPR-based Breakthrough: A New Self-Limiting Genetic Tool to Control the Mediterranean Fruit Fly

22 Apr 2025

A team of researchers from Imperial College London, UC San Diego, and Peking University has unveiled a major step forward in genetic pest control. Their recent publication in BMC Biology introduces a novel, self-limiting genetic system for managing populations of the Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) — one of the world’s most damaging agricultural pests.

In the study, REACT researchers developed and tested a precision genetic tool called SCIC (Sex Conversion Induced by CRISPR), a split-CRISPR/Cas9 system designed to selectively induce female-to-male sex conversion in medflies. The result: all offspring carrying the system are either sterile males or sterile intersexes, eliminating the need for manual sex-sorting or reliance on irradiation-based sterilisation.

The team demonstrated that the SCIC approach could achieve near-complete transformation efficiency and holds strong promise for more cost-effective, scalable, and targeted applications of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT). Simulation models included in the study showed that SCIC-based strategies could outperform traditional SIT methods in terms of speed and efficiency of population suppression — even when release ratios are moderate.

This work builds on REACT’s broader mission to innovate sustainable pest management solutions and reduce pesticide dependence in agriculture.

Read the full article here:

“A self-limiting sterile insect technique alternative for Ceratitis capitata”

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