Thiago de Araújo Mastrangelo.

Projeto de Pesquisa Regular, intitulado Aplicação de tecnologias inovadoras associadas a radiações ionizantes, imagens radiográficas e Inteligência Artificial na otimização da produção do parasitoide Doryctobracon areolatus para o controle biológico de moscas-das-frutas, pelo acordo de Cooperação FAPESP-FAPERGS, com vigência 01/11/2024 a 31/10/2026, no valor total de R$ 87.543,44.

Projeto junto ao Alternative Technologies Program do Departamento de Energia dos Estados Unidos da América que permitiu a doação ao CENA de novo irradiador de raios-X, modelo RS-420XL, e outros acessórios, como um sistema de dosimetria com cristais TLD, em troca do descomissionamento do antigo irradiador Gammabem-650. Valor total dos novos equipamentos doados: US$ 548.884,00

Sterile flies and parasitoids can be used in integrated management programs against fruit flies in area-wide. Among the braconids, the wasp Diachasmimorpha longicaudata stands out in the control of larvae of the fly Anastrepha fraterculus, one of the main pests of the Brazilian fruit industry. During mass production of the sterile flies and parasitoids, the quality control of pupal batches must be carried out. The automated quantification of low-quality materials (such as empty or dead pupae) and parasitized pupae in each batch would be extremely valuable in the mass-rearing process. One way to speed up the inspection of pupal samples and to determine with accuracy and automatically the percentages of good quality pupae and parasitism rate is to apply modern multispectral imaging and X-ray systems. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the use of these types of images to distinguish the different classes of A. fraterculus pupae and pupae of this same pest parasitized by D. longicaudata, besides trying to identify pupae containing parasitoids. For the tests, A. fraterculus pupae from the mass-rearing of CENA/USP will be used and irradiated 3rd instar larvae of A. fraterculus will be offered to the mass-reared parasitoids. The equipment VideometerLab4®️ (Videometer A/S, DK-2970) and MultiFocus®️ (Faxitron Bioptics LLC, Tucson) will be used for acquisition and analyses of multispectral and radiographic images, respectively. The different classes of A. fraterculus pupae will be evaluated by multispectral images during the 14 days of pupal period from different batches from the rearing. To determine the best time of the pupal period to identify the parasitized pupae and to distinguish the different classes of pupae, multispectral images of them will be also obtained over 14 days, and the variations will be quantified based on reflectance standards. Radiographic images will be obtained at least in three periods of the pupal period (3, 7 and 12 days after pupation), in order to identify the best time to visualize the parasitoids inside pupae. After the characterization of the pupal samples by the imaging systems, blind tests will be performed to verify the accuracy of using the multispectral imaging system with random samples from batches of different generations of the mass-reared insects.

The development of genetic sexing strains (GSSs) has enabled sterile male-only releases in the field to increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) application (Franz et al., 2021). For Anastrepha fraterculus (Diptera: Tephritidae), the development of the first GSS based on Y-autosome translocations and using the genetic marker black pupae (bp) was reported by Meza et al. (2020). The GSS-89 showed to be the most genetically stable and productive strain after 8 generations under laboratory small-scale rearing. To evaluate the adaptation of this GSS to the rearing conditions in Brazil (Mastrangelo et al., 2021) and to verify its suitability for the MOSCASUL program (Kovaleski & Mastrangelo, 2021), a lot of pupae of the GSS-89 was imported by the CENA/USP in February 2020. The strain adapted to the new rearing conditions, but after four generations, a sharply increase in the number of unwanted recombinants in the colony was verified (Giustina et al., unpublished data). Currently, the cleaning of the mother colony is ongoing and single male families were set to restore the original characteristics of the GSS-89. To maintain the integrity of the sexing system and stability of the GSS, a filter rearing system (FRS) will be implemented at CENA/USP. After that, the GSS colony will be scaled up again for the conduction of a series of studies. In this context, the objectives of this project are: (1) to assess the quality control and productivity parameters of different A. fraterculus strains (including bisexual strains and GSSs); (2) to evaluate the mating compatibility between a GSS and different laboratory and wild A. fraterculus strains; (3) to determine the mating competitiveness of GSS males; (4) to demonstrate if the absence of sterile females would significantly affect the induction of GSS male sterility on a wild A. fraterculus population; (5) to improve the competitiveness and genetic diversity of the GSS by introducing wild gens; and (6) to assess the oviposition behavior of sterile females on commercial fruits.

O projeto aprovado no Programa FAPESP de Pesquisa Inovativa em Pequenas Empresas (PIPE/Fase 1) visou desenvolver um sistema otimizado e semi-automatizado a ser utilizado na biofábrica da empresa Hakkuna para produção massal de grilos Gryllus assimilis (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) e sua posterior transformação em farinha, a qual será utilizada na suplementação de barras de cereais para alimentação humana.

Walder et al. (2014) developed an artificial rearing system that allows a rapid built up of the colony and production of larger numbers of insects. However, this system still need to be optimized to increase insect yields (e.g., the mean egg-pupae recovery reported was only 17%) in order to attend at least the demand of pilot-programs. Improvements on colony management methods are required to avoid the appearance of problems in the mass rearing and to maintain the stability of A. fraterculus strains in Brazil. This project is under the IAEA CRP "Improvement of Colony Management in Insect Mass-rearing for SIT Applications".

Partipação como pesquisador associado no Auxílio a Pesquisa (Processo FAPESP 2017/05423-8), vigência 01/06/2017 a 31/05/2019.

Com os testes realizados através do auxílio à pesquisa do CNPq (Processo 401369/2016-1) da chamada Universal 01/2016, será possível disponibilizar uma alternativa de controle biológico para a mosca Anastrepha fraterculus no Brasil, gerando e aperfeiçoando metodologias que possam viabilizar tecnicamente a criação de campanhas de supressão dessa praga através da Técnica do Inseto Estéril.