Mitochondrial mutations in genetic biocontrol of pest insects

Abstract

Pest species cause major damage to the natural environments and economies globally. Conventional approaches to their control or eradication, such as the use of insecticides, are temporary in nature and cause undesirable environmental contamination, including detrimental effects on non-target species. In addition, many target species are prone to evolve resistance to the insecticide shortly after its application. Genetic biocontrol approaches that target species’ reproduction provide opportunities for the target specific and long lasting control of pest species. Aiming species’ reproduction is considered a humane approach that doesn’t harm non-targeted species in the same environment. Although the term “genetic biocontrol” refers to techniques that alter the genetic material of an organism, not all of these techniques use genetically modified organisms. Biocontrol techniques that do not use genetic engineering include irradiated organisms, intracellular bacteria (e. g., Wolbachia) and naturally occurring mitochondrial alleles. The first part of this review will consider these three genetic biocontrol approaches and their comparison. The second part focuses on experimental evolution research to develop a method that uses naturally occurring mitochondrial genotypes for biocontrol of the agricultural pest seed beetle (Acanthoscelides obtectus).