Spotted Wing Drosophila CRISPR/Cas9 paper published

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Our work describing the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to obtain loss of function mutations in the Drosophila suzukii white and Sex lethal (Sxl) genes was recently published in BBRC (web). Males homozygous for white mutations developed white eyes. G0 females carrying mutations in the Sxl gene showed abnormal genitalia and ovaries, as expected since Sxl is essential for female development. We suggest that the Sxl gene could be a good target for Cas9-mediated gene drive to suppress populations of this invasive pest. Our paper was recently highlighted on the IGTRCN site.

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