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A drug-inducible sex-separation technique for insects

Author

Listed:
  • Nikolay P. Kandul

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Junru Liu

    (University of California, San Diego)

  • Alexander D. Hsu

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Bruce A. Hay

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • Omar S. Akbari

    (University of California, San Diego
    California Institute of Technology
    Tata Institute for Genetics and Society-UCSD)

Abstract

Here, we describe a drug-inducible genetic system for insect sex-separation that demonstrates proof-of-principle for positive sex selection in D. melanogaster. The system exploits the toxicity of commonly used broad-spectrum antibiotics geneticin and puromycin to kill the non-rescued sex. Sex-specific rescue is achieved by inserting sex-specific introns into the coding sequences of antibiotic-resistance genes. When raised on geneticin-supplemented food, the sex-sorter line establishes 100% positive selection for female progeny, while the food supplemented with puromycin positively selects 100% male progeny. Since the described system exploits conserved sex-specific splicing mechanisms and reagents, it has the potential to be adaptable to other insect species of medical and agricultural importance.

Suggested Citation

  • Nikolay P. Kandul & Junru Liu & Alexander D. Hsu & Bruce A. Hay & Omar S. Akbari, 2020. "A drug-inducible sex-separation technique for insects," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-16020-2
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16020-2
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    Cited by:

    1. Stephanie Gamez & Duverney Chaverra-Rodriguez & Anna Buchman & Nikolay P. Kandul & Stelia C. Mendez-Sanchez & Jared B. Bennett & Héctor M. Sánchez C. & Ting Yang & Igor Antoshechkin & Jonny E. Duque &, 2021. "Exploiting a Y chromosome-linked Cas9 for sex selection and gene drive," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-14, December.

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