SCIENTISTS have now mapped much of the genome of the primary insect which causes flystrike in Australian sheep.

Australian Wool Innovation has funded this core research to understand the genetic make-up and defence systems of Lucilia cuprina with a view to exploiting its weak points with drugs and vaccines.

AWI program manager, animal health and welfare, Dr Johann Schroder, said researchers from Melbourne University were now moving on to targeted research.

About 80 per cent of the fly's genome has already been mapped.

In an exacting process, scientists take pieces of blowfly chromosome, splice them and insert pieces into bacteria, which are then grown in large numbers to multiply the DNA.

Geneticists then reassemble the chromosomes to obtain a complete picture of the original blowfly genome.

"It's like building a huge jigsaw puzzle from minute pieces," Dr Schroder said.

He said the plummeting costs of genome sequencing technology meant the entire L. cuprina genome could be mapped in the next three to five years at a reasonable cost.

"What we have achieved so far is the discovery of 400 genes (out of a total of near 7500 genes) which are apparently unique to L. cuprina," Dr Schroder said.

"These unique genes now need to be further investigated to determine how essential they are for blowfly survival and if they code for a protein.

"If so, we then need to find where that protein is produced and where it features in the fly's life cycle.

"Knowing where a protein is produced will allow us to find out how to use a drug to immobilise it or use a vaccine.

"However, once a potential target is identified, it can still take up to 10 years for a new Lucilia-specific insecticide to be developed for the market.

"And there is still no complete guarantee of success."

Dr Schroder said the team had invited researchers to submit expressions of interest for access to this genome information "in order to answer the questions about what the genes do and how we can exploit them".

"There are now plans under way to select a few genes' coding for proteins on the first-stage maggots' surface and testing these in experimental vaccines," he said.

"Ultimately, we hope that mapping the genome will help us develop a sophisticated method to controlling L. cuprina."

Meanwhile, AWI has signed a contract with a team from the Netherlands which is investigating blowfly maggot enzymes.

It appears that one of the maggots' weapons - the enzymes it uses to dissolve its hosts' skin protein - might be a useful medication in clearing human wounds of necrotic tissue and thus enhancing wound healing.

Flystrike is estimated to cost Australian farmers more than $160 million a year in control costs and lost production.