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An insect's body color usually serves as camouflage to survive predators or mate selection. For citrus growers, summer is a period of Papilio xuthus, a beautiful insect of the Lepidoptera family that is very harmful. Papilio xuthus larvae nibble on young and old citrus shoot tips and leaves, crippling the leaves of infested fruit trees and affecting photosynthesis. The wounds are also susceptible to fungal diseases, which can result in yield reductions in some growing areas.
Integrating comparative genomics and gene expression analyses can yield multiple insights into the evolution of Papilio xuthus. Lifeasible provides efficient and broadly applicable CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing services based on these data for genes related to color, structure, and more. This can provide you with genomic and technical resources to study Papilio xuthus and unlock its potential as a genetic modeling system.
| Editable genes | Relevant traits exhibited after editing |
| E75 | E75 is a mediator controlling pattern formation or switch at molt in an ecdysteroid-dependent manner. |
| White | CRISPR/Cas9 disruption of the white gene resulted in mosaic-depigmented phenotypes in the larval epidermis, testes, and adult eyes of Papilio xuthus. |
| Scarlet | Scarlet mutants showed a morphological mutation in adult eye color. |
| Brown, ok | Brown and ok-mutants exhibit morphological mutations in larvae. |
| Lightoid | Lightoid-mutants showed testis morphological mutations in the larvae. |
| BBP, JHBP | Bilin binding protein (BBP)-related genes responsible for blue pigmentation and multiple juvenile hormone binding protein (JHBP)-related genes responsible for yellow pigmentation. Knockdown of BBP- or JHBP-related genes caused yellow or blue coloration in the green-conditioned pupae, respectively. |
| Abd-B | The Abd-B gene plays a critical role in determining the fate of cells in the tail of an organism. Mutation or reduced expression of Abd-B results in the development of additional forelegs at all segments after the sixth abdominal segment in larvae. |
| Ebony | Ebony encodes the enzyme N-β-alanyl dopamine synthetase, a central component of melanin biosynthesis. Ebony-mutant larvae exhibit enhanced melanization. |
| fz | The fz mutant exhibits an asymmetric phenotype of appendages and keratinous structures. |
The amazing diversity of Papilio xuthus provides rich, natural experiments for exploring the molecular mechanisms of morphological and species diversification. Lifeasible can utilize the CRISPR/Cas9 system to edit target genes, observe phenotypic changes after gene editing, and verify the function of target genes. This could provide deeper insights into the evolutionary history of Papilio xuthus diversification. Please feel free to contact us to customize more editing services for critical genes.
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