Germ-line transformation of the Australian sheep blowfly Lucilia cuprina

Insect Mol Biol. 2002 Feb;11(1):1-10. doi: 10.1046/j.0962-1075.2001.00301.x.

Abstract

The Australian sheep blowfly, Lucilia cuprina, is the most important economic insect pest for the sheep industries in Australia and New Zealand. piggyBac-mediated germ-line transformation of L. cuprina was achieved with a helper plasmid that had the Drosophila melanogaster hsp70 promoter controlling expression of the transposase and a piggyBac vector with an EGFP marker gene. Two transformant lines were obtained, at a frequency of approximately 1-2% per fertile G0. One of these lines has a single copy of the transgene, the other most likely has four copies. This is the first report of germ-line transformation of L. cuprina and is an important step towards the generation of engineered strains that would be suitable for male-only release eradication/suppression programmes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Australia
  • Base Sequence
  • DNA, Complementary
  • Diptera / genetics*
  • Drosophila melanogaster / genetics
  • Genes, Insect*
  • Germ Cells
  • Male
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Plasmids
  • Sheep
  • Transformation, Genetic*

Substances

  • DNA, Complementary