Genetic information of the Mexican fruit fly is necessary for understanding the biology of the species and to develop and enhance genetic control techniques. The application of sterile insect technique (SIT) is the only genetic technique in practice for the control of the Mexican fruit fly. This technique involves the release of laboratory-reared, radiation-sterilized adults to the field. Both sexes are reared and released to mate with the indigenous populations. Sterile females compete for mates and cause damage to the fruit; therefore, a genetic sex sorting system is necessary for the removal of females, thus improving the SIT method and increasing the effective rearing capacity of present mass-rearing facilities. The basic method involves a dominant selectable marker that can be linked, by traditional or molecular techniques, to the male-determining chromosome (Y-chromosome) by a translocation. The males carry the wild-type gene and females carry the mutant gene so that they can be identified and removed from the rearing process. Among techniques that have been used for developing sex sorting strains in other tephritids include pupal color dimorphism, chemical sensitivity, inability to fly and temperature sensitivity. Irradiation-induced mutagenesis studies of A. ludens at the Pest Detection, Diagnostics and Management Laboratory in Edinubrg, TX have resulted in a yellow-eyed mutant.