A review on principles, applications and the current challenges to genome editing in insects

Abstract

Genome editing is an important tool in synthetic biology and the past few decades has witnessed a tremendous pool of know-hows into the intricacies of the process. This technique can introduce altered traits in the organism’s genome that can be extremely beneficial in controlling the spread of dangerous vector-borne diseases that torment our society today like dengue, malaria, chikungunya etc. In the past, random chemical and radiation mutagenesis were performed but now researchers rely on more site-specific mutations using CRISPR Cas, Zinc Finger endonucleases, TALENS, etc. Using gene drives for controlling the spread of the desired trait among the wild population and tackling public health issues are also discussed. The ultimate goal of this review paper is to highlight the major developments that have taken place in the field of genome editing in insects, to put into light the progress and challenges that have been overcome. Ultimately the current limitations and the future possibilities have also been pointed out.