Photo/Illutration Equipment used for a newly developed insect genome editing method is cheaper and portable. (Provided by Kyoto University Professor Takaaki Daimon)

Scientists have developed a simple, cheaper genome editing method that can be used on many insects, raising hopes for applying the technology to produce more edible bugs.

A group of researchers from Kyoto University and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology developed the new method of injecting genome editing tools into adult insects to make them give birth to genetically edited ones.

However, it also creates the risk of the method being abused and of genetically altered insects being released into the wild.

Takaaki Daimon, a professor at Kyoto University who is a member of the research team, acknowledged the new method may pose such risks as it is so simple that even “members of a junior high school biology club can utilize it.”

He urged scientists to “follow the rules and experiment in a closed setting to prevent (genetically edited) insects from escaping.”

Genome editing is being used in developing gene therapy for humans and producing meatier red sea bream, highly nutritious tomatoes and other food products.

Under the existing insect genome editing methods, scientists inject genome editing tools, such as CRISPR/Cas9, which comprises a ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule that serves as a guide, and the Cas9 enzyme that acts like scissors, into eggs immediately after they are fertilized.

But such methods require expensive equipment and technical skills and are not applicable to eggs of cockroaches and other insects, which are covered in a hard case.

When the researchers used the new method to inject a genome editing tool that creates white eyes into an area near the ovary of female German cockroaches about to lay eggs, about 20 percent of their newborn had white eyes.

The editing tool was likely taken into cells that turn into eggs, which then edited the targeted gene, according to the team.

The researchers said the new method can be used on most insects, as well as shrimps and crabs.

The new method is simpler, requires cheaper equipment and is more convenient than the conventional methods as it allows scientists to use existing genome editing tools offered specifically for them.

The team expects the new method to be used in developing countries and applied to creating more edible insects.

The findings were published on May 17 in the online version of the U.S. science journal Cell Reports Methods: (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100215).

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