Biomaterial Database

Advances in Editing Silkworms (Bombyx mori) Genome by Using the CRISPR-Cas System. 2021

Gabriela-Maria Baci, and Alexandra-Antonia Cucu, and Alexandru-Ioan Giurgiu, and Adriana-Sebastiana Muscă, and Lilla Bagameri, and Adela Ramona Moise, and Otilia Bobiș, and Attila Cristian Rațiu, and Daniel Severus Dezmirean

Faculty of Animal Science and Biotechnology, University of Animal Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca, 400372 Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas (CRISPR-associated) represents a powerful genome editing technology that revolutionized in a short period of time numerous natural sciences branches. Therefore, extraordinary progress was made in various fields, such as entomology or biotechnology. Bombyx mori is one of the most important insects, not only for the sericulture industry, but for numerous scientific areas. The silkworms play a key role as a model organism, but also as a bioreactor for the recombinant protein production. Nowadays, the CRISPR-Cas genome editing system is frequently used in order to perform gene analyses, to increase the resistance against certain pathogens or as an imaging tool in B. mori. Here, we provide an overview of various studies that made use of CRISPR-Cas for B. mori genome editing, with a focus on emphasizing the high applicability of this system in entomology and biological sciences.