Genetic control strategies such as the sterile insect technique have successfully fought insect pests worldwide.  The CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) technology, together with high-quality genomic resources obtained in more and more species, greatly facilitates the development of novel genetic control insect strains that can be used in area-wide and species-specific pest control programs.  Here, we review the research progress towards state-of-art CRISPR-based genetic control strategies, including gene drive, sex ratio distortion, CRISPR-engineered genetic sexing strains, and precision-guided sterile insect technique.  These strategies’ working mechanisms, potential resistance development mechanisms, and regulations are illustrated and discussed.  In addition, recent developments such as stacked and conditional systems are introduced.  We envision that the advances in genetic technology will continue to be one of the driving forces for developing the next generation of pest control strategies.  

Thinopyrum ponticum (2n=10x=70), a wild relative of common wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), is considered an invaluable genetic resource for wheat improvement due to its abundance of genes that confer resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses.  This study focused on the CH97 line, derived from the BC₁F₇ progeny of a cross between wheat cv. 7182 and Th. ponticum.  Cytological evidence showed that CH97 has 42 chromosomes, forming 21 bivalents at meiotic metaphase I, with the bivalents subsequently separating and moving to opposite poles during meiotic anaphase I.  Through a combination of FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization), GISH (genomic in situ hybridization), mc-GISH (multicolor genomic in situ hybridization), and liquid array analysis, it was determined that CH97 comprises 40 wheat chromosomes and two alien chromosomes from the E^e genome of Th. ponticum, featuring the absence of a pair of 5D chromosomes and variations in 1B, 6B, and 7B chromosomes.  These findings confirm that CH97 is a stable wheat-Th. ponticum 5E (5D) alien disomic substitution line.  Inoculation experiments revealed that CH97 exhibits high resistance to wheat powdery mildew and stripe rust throughout the growth period, in contrast to the highly susceptible common wheat parent 7182.  Compared to 7182, CH97 displayed improvements in spikelets per spike, thousand-kernel weight, and kernel length.  Additionally, utilizing SLAF-seq technology, chromosome 5E-specific molecular markers were developed and validated, achieving a 33.3% success rate, which facilitates marker-assisted selection to enhance disease resistance in wheat.  Overall, the CH97 substitution line, with its resistance to diseases and improved agronomic traits represents valuable new germplasm for wheat chromosome engineering and breeding.