Lady-killing genes offer pest control
By Susan Milius
For decades, scientists have blasted insects with radiation to create sterile males that farmers then released for pest control.
Now, a team based in England suggests a more subtle approach. Two new lines of Drosophila melanogaster prove that it’s possible to create insects with dominant genes that make females selfdestruct on cue, report Dean D. Thomas of Oxford University and his colleagues in the March 31 Science.