Genetic transformation of non-drosophilid insects by transposable elements

Four different transposable elements from 4 separate families of eukaryotic transposable elements can now he used to genetically transform nondrosophi lid insects. In addition, over the past few years, viral and bacterial endo symbiont gene delivery systems for some insect species have been developed. These recent developments are in stark contrast to the preceding decade du ring which, despite many efforts, a repeatable and routine gene transfer te chnology applicable to nondrosophilid insects could not be developed. The a bility to genetically transform nondrosophilid insects offers new approache s to analyzing molecular genetic systems in these species. A consequence of the increased knowledge that will arise from these studies will be new str ategies for pest control that will be specific for the target insect. This short review briefly summarizes the 4 transposable element-based genetic tr ansformation systems that have been developed for placing genes into nondro sophilid insects.