Gene Editing in Insects

The development of gene editing technology is important for the study of physiological functions such as growth, development and reproduction as well as the analysis of behavioral regulatory mechanisms in insects. In the model organism drosophila, three generations of gene editing technologies have been upgraded and optimized, with the advantages of high editing efficiency, stable transmission and easy screening, which help to reveal the mechanism of action of key signaling pathways in various fields such as cell biology, developmental biology and neurobiology; in the medical vector insect mosquito, CRISPR/Cas9 system-mediated gene editing technology has been used in reducing mosquito resistance, control of mosquito population size and mosquito-borne disease transmission.

Our Services for Gene Editing in Insects

In agricultural pest research, gene editing technology can realize in vivo functional studies of key molecular targets in various signaling pathways and provide new ideas for pest management; in beneficial insect research, gene editing technology is mainly applied to bombyx mori sex regulation, anti-virus and silk quality improvement of silkworm. Lifeasible provides gene editing services for some insects including Lepidoptera, Orthoptera-locusta migratoria, Diptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Blattaria-cockroach, and Hymenoptera. By constructing transgenic insect lines, we aim to provide reference for the analysis of insect gene functions, the improvement of economic insects, and the control of major pests.

For pest gene editing, we can edit drug resistance-related genes and reproduction-related genes to reduce the resistance of pests, destroy their immune system, reduce the birth rate of offspring, etc., so as to control the population size, find key control targets, etc., and improve the pest control effect. In beneficial insects, we can edit anti-viral genes, immune system genes, reproduction-related genes, etc. to improve the immunity of insects, increase the reproductive ability of insects, expand the population size, and thus maximize the economic benefits.

Our Methods for Gene Editing in Insects

We mainly use three gene editing techniques-ZFNs, TALEN and CRISPR-Cas9 to edit genes for physiological functions such as growth, development and reproduction as well as behavioral regulation of insects. Gene editing techniques are used for insect gene function, pest control, and improvement of economic insects. ZFNs cannot successfully find a suitable ZFN action site in every gene or other functional chromosomal segment. The specificity of DNA sequence recognition in TALEN technology is high, but a large amount of sequencing work is required in the construction process, and the cost of use is high. The recognition process of CRISPR-Cas9 system is accurate, and the process is simple and cheap, which greatly improves the efficiency and simplicity of gene manipulation. However, the Cas9 protein is sometimes unable to cleave arbitrary sequences and creates cytotoxicity issues.

Advantages

Our editing techniques are diverse and have the advantages of high editing efficiency, stable transmission of the edited insects and easy screening.

Lifeasible mainly offers three means of gene editing in the service for some insects including Lepidoptera, Orthoptera-locusta migratoria, Diptera, Hemiptera, Coleoptera, Blattaria-cockroach, and Hymenoptera, to study their gene functions and analyze their genetic, physiological and biochemical regulation mechanisms, and provide reference for the improvement of economic insects by constructing transgenic insect lines. If you are interested in our services or if you have any questions, please click online inquiry for more detailed information.