Development of insect cell line using CRISPR technology

The untapped potential of cell culture in disentangling insect-microbial relationships

Cell culture is a powerful technique for the investigation of molecular mechanisms fundamental to health and disease in a diverse array of organisms. Cell lines offer several advantages, namely their simplistic approach and high degree of reproducibility. One field where cell culture has proven particularly useful is the study of the microbiome, where cell culture has led to the illumination of microbial influences on host immunity, nutrition, and physiology. Thus far, researchers have focused cell culture work predominantly on humans, but the growing field of insect microbiome research stands to benefit greatly from its application. Insects constitute one of Earth's most diverse and ancient life forms and, just as with humans, possess microbiomes with great significance to their health. Insects, which play critical roles in supporting food security and ecological stability, are facing increasing threats from agricultural intensification, climate change, and pesticide use. As the microbiome is closely tied to host health, gaining a more robust understanding is of increasing importance. In this review, we assert that the cultivation and utilization of insect gut cell lines in microbiome research will bridge critical knowledge gaps essential for informing insect management practices in a world under pressure.

Advances in CRISPR-Cas9 for the Baculovirus Vector System: A Systematic Review

The baculovirus expression vector systems (BEVS) have been widely used for the recombinant production of proteins in insect cells and with high insert capacity. However, baculovirus does not replicate in mammalian cells; thus, the BacMam system, a heterogenous expression system that can infect certain mammalian cells, was developed. Since then, the BacMam system has enabled transgene expression via mammalian-specific promoters in human cells, and later, the MultiBacMam system enabled multi-protein expression in mammalian cells. In this review, we will cover the continual development of the BEVS in combination with CRPISPR-Cas technologies to drive genome-editing in mammalian cells. Additionally, we highlight the use of CRISPR-Cas in glycoengineering to potentially produce a new class of glycoprotein medicines in insect cells. Moreover, we anticipate CRISPR-Cas9 to play a crucial role in the development of protein expression systems, gene therapy, and advancing genome engineering applications in the future.

CRISPR/Cpf1 multiplex genome editing system increases silkworm tolerance to BmNPV

The CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology is now widely used in insect studies, but the use of CRISPR can be further increased to improve insect genome engineering. We established a direct mutation at multiple loci in several genes simultaneously used by CRISPR/Cpf1 multiplex genome editing technology to target the BmNPV genome. We constructed a transgenic line that can target the BmNPV ie-1, gp64, and DNApoly genes simultaneously, and hybridized this line with an FnCpf1 transgenic line to obtain an FnCpf1 × gNPVM binary hybrid expression system and to activate the FnCpf1 gene editing system. We showed that the multiple gene editing system introduced deletions, mutations, and insertions at three target sites, and that it did not affect the economic traits of transgenic silkworm lines. The antiviral response of multiplexed genome editing lines increased significantly, and viral gene transcription and replication were significantly affected in the transgenic silkworm lines. This study provides innovative resistance materials for silkworm breeding and also provides a simplified platform for efficient insect multi genome engineering and genetic operation.