Irradiation of Med Fruit Fly

["Mike Malaxos" <rss@arach.net.au>]

Hullo all,
	My query relates to a fruit fly eradication program by sterilisation of
the pupae.

Can any of the group provide information concerning the relationship
between age of pupae when irradiated, dose received, level of sterilisation
versus rate of mutation for different dose rates.

Details of the pupae being irradiated are as follows.

Ceratitis Capitata  Med Fruit Fly.
Cycle is Eggs 2-4-days, grubs(maggots)  14-16 days Pupae 12 days irradiated
on the 10th day.

The original dose used for sterilisation was 10 - 20 kRads over a period of
about 15 seconds
at a dose rate of around 40 kRads/minute.

Because of source decay the dose rate has dropped to around 2.5
kRads/minute and the exposure time increased to 4-8 minutes. Between 10 and
20 kRads are required to induce sterilisation. 

It is feared that the mutation rate may have increased significantly
because of the lower dose rate.
Can anyone provide the following answers.

Will the mutation rate increase significantly because of the lower dose
rate?
If so, can the rate of mutation be decreased by irradiating the pupa at a
different stage of the life cycle?

Can the dose required to produce sterilisation be reduced by irradiating
the pupa at a different stage of the life cycle.?
  
Can the pupa be pre-treated by preheating (warming with microwaves) to
increase the radio-sensitivity?.  

Please direct any answers not of general interest to me.
Thanks in advance for your help.

Best Regards
M.Malaxos
Radiation Safety Services
69-71 Robinson Avenue Belmont
Western Australia.  6104 
Fax 61 89 475 0165
P 61 89 475 0099  a/h 089 255 1214
email rss@arach.net.au
 
************************************************************************
The RADSAFE Frequently Asked Questions list, archives and subscription
information can be accessed at http://www.ehs.uiuc.edu/~rad/radsafe.html