Insects naturally harbor a broad range of selfish agents that can manipulate their reproduction and development, often leading to host sex ratio distortion. Such effects directly benefit the spread of the selfish agents. These agents include two broad groups: bacterial symbionts and selfish chromosomes. Recent studies have made steady progress in uncovering the cellular targets of these agents and their effector genes. Here we highlight what is known about the targeted developmental processes, developmental timing, and effector genes expressed by several selfish agents. It is now becoming apparent that: (1) the genetic toolkits used by these agents to induce a given reproductive manipulation are simple, (2) these agents target sex-specific cellular processes very early in development, and (3) in some cases, similar processes are targeted. Knowledge of the molecular underpinnings of these systems will help to solve long-standing puzzles and provide new tools for controlling insect pests.

昆虫天生具有广泛的自私因子，可以操纵它们的繁殖和发育，通常会导致宿主性别比例失调。这种影响直接有利于自私代理人的传播。这些代理包括两大类：细菌共生体和自私染色体。最近的研究在揭示这些药物及其效应基因的细胞靶标方面取得了稳步进展。在这里，我们重点介绍了一些自私代理人表达的目标发育过程、发育时间和效应基因的已知信息。现在越来越明显的是：（1）这些药物用于诱导给定生殖操作的遗传工具包很简单，（2）这些药物在发育早期针对性别特异性细胞过程，以及（3）在某些情况下，类似的过程是有针对性的。