Gene Editing in Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera, the second largest order of insects, has about 200,000 known species worldwide. It has an extremely wide distribution, with the most abundant species in the tropics. The larvae of most species damage all kinds of cultivated plants, and the larger ones often eat up the leaves or bore down on the branches. Smaller ones tend to roll leaves, embellish leaves, sheaths, spit nets or bore into plant tissues to feed. Adults mostly use nectar as supplementary nutrition, or their mouthparts degenerate and no longer feed, and generally do not cause direct damage.

Our Services for Gene Editing in Lepidoptera

There are three main types of gene editing technologies in Lepidoptera, zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) and CRISPR/Cas technologies. These three major gene editing technologies are currently applied to important lepidopteran insects, such as the spodoptera litura, danaus plexippus and helicoverpa armigera. Lifeasible provides ZFNs, TALEN and CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing services for some insects in Lepidoptera including spodoptera litura, helicoverpa armigera, danaus plexippus, ostrinia furnacalis, spodoptera frugiperda, plutella xylostella, hyphantria cunea, mythimna separata, agrotis ipsilon, dendrolimus punctatus, junonia coenia, papilio xuthus, vanessa cardui, spodoptera littoralis, ostrinia nubilalis, tuta absoluta and chilo suppressalis to reduce the damage caused by pests and screen out the variety with good traits of these insects, this can provide reference for functional genome research, insect physiology and biochemistry, insect behavior research and the establishment of green pest control system in Lepidoptera.

Our Methods for Gene Editing in Lepidoptera

We use ZFNs, TALEN and CRISPR-Cas9 for gene editing in lepidopteran insects with high editing efficiency, and multiple genes mutated simultaneously. By creating DNA double-strand breaks at specific sites in the genome, we activate the insect organism's own DNA damage repair mechanism, generating multiple mutation types such as insertions and deletions in the process.

Advantages

We use gene editing to study the function of specific genes in Lepidopteran insects and to analyze their genetic and physiological-biochemical regulatory mechanisms, so as to screen out the variety with good traits of these insects, and find out the specific niche for pest control.

Lifeasible offers three means of gene editing in the service for Lepidoptera including spodoptera litura, helicoverpa armigera, danaus plexippus, ostrinia furnacalis, spodoptera frugiperda, plutella xylostella, hyphantria cunea, mythimna separata, agrotis ipsilon, and chilo suppressalis to study their gene functions and analyze their genetic, physiological and biochemical regulation mechanisms, so as to reduce the damage caused by some pests and control them. If you are interested in our services, please click online inquiry for more detailed information.