ABSTRACT
The role of genetics, and more of molecular biology, in studies related to insect control has increased rapidly, and there is every indication that this trend will continue. The reasons for this can be found both internally and externally. The Tephritidae family of fruit flies contains several species for which the genetic and molecular basis is expanding rapidly. For Mediterranean fruit fly, at least 85 morphological mutants have been described of which 37 have been chromosomally mapped. Traditional genetics can also address critical problems related to the rearing and release of sterilized insects. The construction of linkage maps represents just the first step in developing the genetics of any organism, and the second step involves correlation of the linkage maps with the carriers of the genetic information, the chromosomes. The ability to directly manipulate the sex ratio of any fly population implies that techniques are available to manipulate its genome.
