Germ-line transformation of pink bollworm (Lepidoptera : Gelechiidae) mediated by the piggyBac transposable element

The pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella, is a world-wide pest of cultiv ated cotton. In certain growing regions populations are suppressed by a ste rile release strategy. Efforts to improve the sterile insect technique as w ell as our understanding of lepidopteran biology could benefit greatly from a germ-line transformation system. We report transformation of pink bollwo rm with a piggyBac transposable element carrying the enhanced green floures cent protein (EGFP) marker gene. This vector-marker system resulted in reco very of transgenics at a rate of approximately 3.5%. Integration of the tra nsforming construct that was typical of piggyBac was demonstrated by Southe rn analysis and sequence determination of transposon flanks. Expression of the EGFP marker was visualized by fluorescent microscopy and Western Blot a nalysis. Maintenance of transformed strains indicates that the transgene se gregates in a Mendelian fashion and has been stable over fourteen generatio ns to date.