Bosch et. al. 2019 report in biorxiv a homology-independent genomic site-specific gene knock-in method that can be applied both in vitro and in vivo. Traditional methods of site-specific knock-in use homologous repair, which requires cloning of long homology arms that […]
melanogaster
Engineered Translocation-based Underdominance Gene Drive
A recent paper by Buchman et al. in ACS Synthetic Biology details the development of an underdominance effect through engineered chromosomal translocations in Drosophila melanogaster. The principle of using underdominance as a mechanism for driving desirable genes into populations has […]
Advances in CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing in Drosophila Lead the Way for Applications in Other Insects.
In the January edition of FlyBook (Genetics) Bier et al. review the recent advances in CRISPR/Cas technologies applied to the fruit fly, delving into the details of established and cutting-edge methods and their potential applications to future studies in this […]
Cas9 Expression Patterns Impact on Resistance Evolution in Different Genetic Backgrounds
Gene drive systems are sensitive to the evolution of resistance in the form of polymorphisms in the guide RNA’s target DNA sequence. Champer et al. (2017) have recently reported on their exploration of how Cas9 expression patterns as well as […]
Finding Transcriptional Enhancers
In a recent issue of BioTechniques, Voutev et al. (2016) describe a fast, efficient, and effective method for the in vivo identification of transcriptional enhancers using transgenic reporter genes. Enhancer discovery is a critical aspect of functional genomics studies that […]
An In Vivo Chitin Visualization Tool
Sobala et al (2015) published the results of their efforts to develop a system that enables them to visualize the location of chitin in living insects. While they developed and tested their tool in Drosophila melanogaster it is designed in […]
Gene Editing in an Invasive Species
Li and Scott report their successful use of Cas9 to knockout two genes in Drosophila suzukii in a recent issue of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications. Drosophila suzukii or the spotted wing Drosophila although a native of Asia has recently […]
Genetic Manipulation of Insect Cell Lines
Two papers in the December issue of Genetics, Cherbas et al. 2015 and Manivannan et al. 2015, describe an improved method for making Drosophila cell lines with single, targeted mutations. Both works build upon existing recombination-mediated cassette exchange (RMCE) technology […]
Cas9-Mediated Gene-Drive In Mosquitoes
Gantz and Bier who demonstrated the fundamental principles of a Cas9-based gene drive system using Drosophila melanogaster in a publication earlier this year have recreated that system in the mosquito Anopheles stephensi with the help of collaborators. Gantz et al. […]
Mis-Expressing Insect Genes Using Cas9
Lin et al. have now published a paper that demonstrates overexpression of endogenous genes in Drosophila melanogaster using the CRISPR/Cas system. Over- and miss-expression of genes can be a powerful tool to elucidate gene function and is commonly achieved through […]