Abstract: Insect vectors cause significant economic losses and human casualties worldwide each year by transmitting parasites and viruses such as malaria, Zika virus, and dengue. Agricultural pests cause huge losses of crop yield every year and seriously threaten global food security. However, the current control methods based on chemical agents are insufficient to completely control the occurrence and damage of pests. At the same time, the use of chemical pesticides will induce resistance and result in environmental pollution and pesticide residues, etc. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop new pest control strategies in production. In recent years, with the development of genome sequencing and gene editing techniques, the genetic control technology for the target pest population and their specific target genes has been rapidly developed. Compared with traditional pest control methods such as chemical control, genetic control strategies for pests have the advantages of species specificity, environmental friendliness, and efficient control. In this article, we reviewed several widely studied genetic control techniques for pests, including sterile insect technique (SIT), release of insects carrying a dominant lethal (RIDL), and gene drive (GD) technology. Finally, we presented several prospects for the research of genetic control technology for pests and its application in agricultural pest control: (1) to establish stable and efficient genetic manipulation systems; (2) to identify efficient promoters in germ cells or other tissues to improve the efficiency of gene editing or gene transformation; and (3) to elucidate the sex determination pathway of pests and excavate the key genes involved in the reproductive development of pests.

Key words: Insect pests, genetic pest management, gene editing, sterile insect technique, release of insects carrying a dominant lethal, gene drive