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Gene silencing in non‐model insects: Overcoming hurdles using symbiotic bacteria for trauma‐free sustainable delivery of RNA interference
Author(s) -
Whitten Miranda,
Dyson Paul
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/bies.201600247
Subject(s) - rna interference , biology , drosophila melanogaster , rna , model organism , reverse genetics , insect , computational biology , gene silencing , genetics , organism , rna silencing , genome , gene , gene drive , crispr , microbiology and biotechnology , ecology
Insight into animal biology and development provided by classical genetic analysis of the model organism Drosophila melanogaster was an incentive to develop advanced genetic tools for this insect. But genetic systems for the over one million other known insect species are largely undeveloped. With increasing information about insect genomes resulting from next generation sequencing, RNA interference is now the method of choice for reverse genetics, although it is constrained by the means of delivery of interfering RNA. A recent advance to ensure sustained delivery with minimal experimental intervention or trauma to the insect is to exploit commensal bacteria for symbiont‐mediated RNA interference. This technology not only offers an efficient means for RNA interference in insects in laboratory conditions, but also has potential for use in the control of human disease vectors, agricultural pests and pathogens of beneficial insects.