To fight berry-busting fruit flies, researchers focus on sterilizing the bugs

By MELINA WALLING
Associated Press

New research from North Carolina State University offers some hope to fruit growers who have struggled with a damaging fruit fly. The research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes how the researchers manipulated the insects’ DNA so that female offspring would be sterile. Genetically modifying insects as a form of pest control isn’t a new idea. Scientists have already released genetically modified mosquitoes, for instance, that mate with the native population to produce offspring that die before adulthood to hold down populations and help combat the spread of insect-borne diseases. But the technology hasn’t taken off as widely in agriculture because pesticides have been cheaper and easier to use.