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Proceedings of an FAO/IAEA Coordinated Research Project on Use of Symbiotic Bacteria to Reduce Mass-rearing Costs and Increase Mating Success in Selected Fruit Pests in Support of SIT Application

This is a collection of manuscripts produced in the frame of the Coordinate Research Project (CRP) on the “Use of Symbiotic Bacteria to Reduce Mass-Rearing Costs and Increase Mating Success in Selected Fruit Pests in Support of SIT Application”. The objective of this CRP was to characterize the microorganisms associated with the major fruit pests targeted by the SIT and to harness these symbionts to decrease production costs and increase sterile insect quality. For more information on the specific aims of this initiative, please refer to the introductory paper. 

Publication was funded by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Edited by Carlos Cáceres, George Tsiamis, Boaz Yuval,  Edouard Jurkevitch and Kostas Bourtzis.

  1. Various endosymbiotic bacteria, including Wolbachia of the Alphaproteobacteria, infect a wide range of insects and are capable of inducing reproductive abnormalities to their hosts such as cytoplasmic incompatibi...

    Authors: Elias D. Asimakis, Vangelis Doudoumis, Ashok B. Hadapad, Ramesh S. Hire, Costas Batargias, Changying Niu, Mahfuza Khan, Kostas Bourtzis and George Tsiamis
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):290
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  2. Wolbachia, one of the most abundant taxa of intracellular Alphaproteobacteria, is widespread among arthropods and filarial nematodes. The presence of these maternally inherited bacteria is associated with modific...

    Authors: Claudia Alejandra Conte, Diego Fernando Segura, Fabian Horacio Milla, Antonios Augustinos, Jorge Luis Cladera, Kostas Bourtzis and Silvia Beatriz Lanzavecchia
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):289
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  3. Insect species have established sophisticated symbiotic associations with diverse groups of microorganisms including bacteria which have been shown to affect several aspects of their biology, physiology, ecolo...

    Authors: Georgios A. Kyritsis, Antonios A. Augustinos, Spyridon Ntougias, Nikos T. Papadopoulos, Kostas Bourtzis and Carlos Cáceres
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):288
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  4. The Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) is being applied for the management of economically important pest fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae) in a number of countries worldwide. The success and cost effectiveness o...

    Authors: Ania T. Deutscher, Toni A. Chapman, Lucas A. Shuttleworth, Markus Riegler and Olivia L. Reynolds
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):287
    Content type: Review Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  5. Commensal microbes can promote survival and growth of developing insects, and have important fitness implications in adulthood. Insect larvae can acquire commensal microbes through two main routes: by vertical...

    Authors: Juliano Morimoto, Binh Nguyen, Shabnam T. Tabrizi, Ida Lundbäck, Phillip W. Taylor, Fleur Ponton and Toni A. Chapman
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):286
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  6. Symbiotic bacteria play a critical role in insect’s biology. They also offer great opportunities to improve on current pest management techniques. In order to exploit and integrate the roles played by the gut ...

    Authors: Awawing Anjwengwo Andongma, Lun Wan, Yong-Cheng Dong, Yu-Lei Wang, Jin He and Chang-Ying Niu
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):285
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  8. The interaction between gut bacterial symbionts and Tephritidae became the focus of several studies that showed that bacteria contributed to the nutritional status and the reproductive potential of its fruit f...

    Authors: María Laura Juárez, Lida Elena Pimper, Guillermo Enrique Bachmann, Claudia Alejandra Conte, María Josefina Ruiz, Lucía Goane, Pilar Medina Pereyra, Felipe Castro, Julieta Salgueiro, Jorge Luis Cladera, Patricia Carina Fernández, Kostas Bourtzis, Silvia Beatriz Lanzavecchia, María Teresa Vera and Diego Fernando Segura
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):283
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  9. Insect pests belonging to genus Bactrocera sp. (Diptera: Tephritidae) pose major biotic stress on various fruits and vegetable crops around the world. Zeugodacus and Bactrocera sp. are associated with diverse ...

    Authors: Ashok B. Hadapad, Suresh K. G. Shettigar and Ramesh S. Hire
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):282
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  10. Mass-rearing, domestication and gamma irradiation of tephritid fruit flies used in sterile insect technique (SIT) programmes can negatively impact fly quality and performance. Symbiotic bacteria supplied as pr...

    Authors: Deane N. Woruba, Jennifer L. Morrow, Olivia L. Reynolds, Toni A. Chapman, Damian P. Collins and Markus Riegler
    Citation: BMC Microbiology 2019 19(Suppl 1):281
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 1

  11. Wolbachia pipientis is a widespread, obligatory intracellular and maternally inherited bacterium, that induces a wide range of reproductive alterations to its hosts. Cytoplasmic Incompatibility (CI) is causing em...

    Authors: Georgios A. Kyritsis, Antonios A. Augustinos, Ioannis Livadaras, Carlos Cáceres, Kostas Bourtzis and Nikos T. Papadopoulos
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):96
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  12. The Queensland fruit fly, Bactrocera tryoni (Froggatt) (Diptera, Tephritidae) is the most significant insect pest of Australian horticulture. Bactrocera tryoni is controlled using a range of tools including the S...

    Authors: Lucas Alexander Shuttleworth, Mohammed Abul Monjur Khan, Terrence Osborne, Damian Collins, Mukesh Srivastava and Olivia Louise Reynolds
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):95
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  13. The Oriental fruit fly, Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an important polyphagous pest of horticultural produce. The sterile insect technique (SIT) is a proven control method against many i...

    Authors: Mahfuza Khan, Kajla Seheli, Md. Abdul Bari, Nahida Sultana, Shakil Ahmed Khan, Khandokar Fahmida Sultana and Md. Anwar Hossain
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):94
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  14. The olive fly, Bactrocera oleae, is the most important insect pest in olive production, causing economic damage to olive crops worldwide. In addition to extensive research on B. oleae control methods, scientists ...

    Authors: Gaia Bigiotti, Roberta Pastorelli, Roberto Guidi, Antonio Belcari and Patrizia Sacchetti
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):93
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  15. The Mediterranean fruit fly Ceratitis capitata is a major pest in horticulture. The development of fly larvae is mediated by bacterial decay in the fruit tissue. Despite the importance of bacteria on larval devel...

    Authors: Doron Shalom Yishai Zaada, Michael Ben-Yosef, Boaz Yuval and Edouard Jurkevitch
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):92
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  16. The symbiosis between the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae, and Candidatus Erwinia dacicola has been demonstrated as essential for the fly’s larval development and adult physiology. The mass rearing of the olive...

    Authors: Patrizia Sacchetti, Roberta Pastorelli, Gaia Bigiotti, Roberto Guidi, Sara Ruschioni, Carlo Viti and Antonio Belcari
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):91
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  17. Enterobacter sp. AA26 was recently isolated from the midgut of Ceratitis capitata (Wiedemann) and it was shown to have positive effects in rearing efficiency when used as larval probiotics. In this study, biomass...

    Authors: Konstantinos Azis, Ioanna Zerva, Paraschos Melidis, Carlos Caceres, Kostas Bourtzis and Spyridon Ntougias
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):90
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  18. Dirioxa pornia (Diptera, Tephritidae) (Island fly) is an Australian native species related to a number of pestiferous fruit flies but, unlike many of the pest species, has not been studied extensively due to its ...

    Authors: Kala Bhandari, Peter Crisp and Michael A. Keller
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):89
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2

  19. Symbiotic bacteria contribute to a multitude of important biological functions such as nutrition and reproduction and affect multiple physiological factors like fitness and longevity in their insect hosts. The...

    Authors: Elias D. Asimakis, Mahfuza Khan, Panagiota Stathopoulou, Carlos Caceres, Kostas Bourtzis and George Tsiamis
    Citation: BMC Biotechnology 2019 19(Suppl 2):88
    Content type: Research Published on:

    This article is part of a Supplement: Volume 19 Supplement 2