Application of the CRISPR gene-editing technique in insect functional genome studies - a review

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) structural family form an acquired immune system in bacteria that is able to degrade invading virus or phage DNA. The CRISPR/Cas system has been co-opted as an RNA-mediated nuclease for use in targeted genome engineering. The CRISPR/Cas system provides a novel tool for manipulating genomic DNA using an approach that is simple, convenient, and easy to learn. Since its first description as a genome editor in 2012, it has been widely applied to bacteria, yeast, nematodes, flies, zebrafish, mice, rats, and human cells. This review describes the basic principles of the system and its application. In particular, we focus on CRISPR as a tool to manipulate and study the functional genomes of the planet's most abundant organisms, insects, which have diverse impacts on humans and the environment.