ARS | Publication request: Experiences and results of initial studies of RIDL® mosquitoes in Florida

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 30, 2010
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: In 2009, staff from the Mosquito and Fly Research Unit (MFRU), Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology in Gainesville, Florida began collaborative studies involving male Aedes aegypti mosquitoes carrying a dominant lethal (RIDL®) gene that was developed by Oxitec, Ltd., in Oxford, England. This presentation summarizes the process that was followed to secure permission of three federal and two state agencies to import eggs of these mosquitoes into the USA. Once imported to the MFRU, eggs from RIDL® mosquitoes were hatched and the male mosquitoes that were produced were separated and used to initiate a mating competitiveness study with a laboratory strain of Ae. aegypti from San Juan, Puerto Rico (PR) that was in the F12 generation. In addition, the methodology and procedures followed in this study leading to the mixing of 50 RIDL® males, 50 PR males, and 50 PR females in the same cage and placed outdoors for 24 hours will be presented. Preliminary results indicated that 49% of the matings with the females were by RIDL® males, 45% were by PR males, and 6% involved mixed matings. Implications of these results and future plans for working with these mosquitoes in Florida will be discussed.