Oxitec Ltd. and Certis Europe B.V. enter into research collaboration

Oxitec and Certis Europe have entered into a research collaboration to develop, test and review commercial opportunities for Oxitec’s RIDL® technology on Tuta absoluta, one of the most economically damaging tomato crop pests in Europe.

Oxitec’s patented RIDL® technology, similar in action to the sterile insect technique (SIT), allows for chemical-free, species-specific control of insect species that are either harmful to human health, or which can cause significant economic damage to crops. RIDL insects contain a modification that causes their offspring to die, but can live and reproduce normally when the larvae are fed a diet containing a supplement. RIDL® males are released to mate with wild female pest insects; their progeny inherit the RIDL gene and females do not survive to adulthood, since the dietary supplement is not available in the wild. Releases of RIDL® males in large enough numbers over sufficient time will suppress, or even eliminate, the target pest population. Oxitec’s patented technology offers a version of SIT that is has significant advantages over conventional radiation-based techniques as well as allowing the concept to be applied to a much greater range of pests. It has already been applied to the dengue fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti, with open field trials successfully carried out in the Cayman Islands in 2010. Further trials are currently under way in Malaysia and Brazil.

In agriculture, Oxitec have applied their transformation technology to incorporate a fluorescent marker in pink bollworm – a devastating pest of cotton – for improved monitoring in the SIT. Moths of this marked strain have been the subject of open-field trials in south-western USA over 4 years. In an Environment Impact Statement recently published by the USDA, assessing RIDL in comparison with other insect control methods, the Oxitec technology was described as “the preferred alternative”.

The focus of the research collaboration with Certis Europe is the devastating tomato pest T. absoluta. This lepidopteran pest was first detected in Spain in 2006 and since then has spread rapidly across Southern Europe and North Africa. Originating in South America, it has now been reported in Italy, France, Malta, UK, Greece, Switzerland, Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Albania. This voracious pest causes serious damage to open and protected tomato crops and can also attack other species such as aubergine and potato, with losses typically between 50-100%. Effective control is difficult to achieve as the larvae of T. absoluta mine the leaves and burrow in to the fruit. Control measures rely heavily on chemical pesticides, however, the use of multiple treatments is required for satisfactory levels of control, which is neither desirable, nor economic and which has led to the development of strains resistant to some more widely used products.

Oxitec and Certis Europe report significant progress in the Tuta project. Oxitec have achieved the critical first step of developing an off-plant diet. Work is now underway to develop the transgenic process in Tuta to generate RIDL strains with potential for future trials. Certis Europe is evaluating options for scale-up production at their facilities in the UK and with their collaborators in North Africa. Certis will then be preparing for field evaluation of the RIDL® Tuta, subject to the necessary regulatory approvals in the relevant countries.

Introduction of this technology will represent a major advance in the control of this important pest offering significant benefits for growers and consumers alike. The technology is fully compatible with existing IPM and insecticide resistance management strategies, and will support countries in their efforts to exclude damaging non-indigenous species, thereby supporting local producers.