A Popeyes chicken restaurant in Detroit, Michigan, was forced to close this week after a video posted online from a DoorDash driver showed cockroaches crawling around the store.
“They got roaches y’all,” the driver said in one of the videos along with footage of roaches crawling around the counter and around the food order. “Running all over the straws.”
“I told the workers they all just back there, they cleared out,” the woman says. “They just laughin.”
A spokesperson for Popeyes confirmed to Fox News Digital the store, located on Detroit’s east side, was temporarily shut down in response to the video.
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A Detroit Popeyes is closed after video surfaced showing a cockroach infestation (Facebook)
“This is completely unacceptable!” the spokesperson said. “This restaurant was run by an independent franchisee and has been shut down until it can provide our guests with the Popeyes standards and service they deserve.”
The driver told WXYZ-TV that she was “shocked” and “disgusted” over the incident.
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Popeyes location at corner of Warren and Conner in east Detroit (Google Earth )
“I just couldn’t believe that they were even open and working in those conditions,” the driver said.
A bug expert told WJBK-TV that German cockroaches are a “tough pest” that usually stay in an area to feed on rotten food but likely initially came into the store as hitchhikers.
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Cockroach on the counter of Detroit Popeyes (Facebook)
“Somebody has an infested home, they come to work, and bring some cockroaches with them, in a backpack, purse or coat, whatever,” Mark VanderWerp of Rose Pest Solutions told the outlet. “Or it comes in on transportation and goods.”
Andrew Mark Miller is a writer at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.
Have you ever thought you’d be seeing a cyborg cockroach that runs on solar power and carries a backpack that looks like an electric circuit? A team of researchers at Japan’s RIKEN research institute has turned a regular Madagascar hissing cockroach into a real cyborg insect by connecting a lithium battery, a solar cell, multiple wires, and a tiny electronic circuit. The cyborg can be controlled using Bluetooth signals, and the researchers suggest that, in the future, such robo-bugs could be employed for search-and-rescue missions.
The researchers refer to their cyborg as an insect-computer hybrid system, and it incorporates a living insect as a platform and a mini-electronic system as its controller. Basically, it’s a biobot that can be controlled like a robot, but it has the power to explore and navigate a complex environment with the proficiency of an insect. The researchers claim that insect cyborgs could even beat traditional soft robots when it comes to usefully navigating the real world.
Going solar
Keeping the body shape of the 6-cm-long cockroach in mind, the researchers designed a polymer backpack that could carry all the electronic equipment without disturbing the insect when it moved. The backpack carried an electronic controller, a lithium battery, and multiple wires. Each wire was connected to the controller on one side and to different legs of the cockroach on the other.
Whenever the researchers want the cockroach to move, they send a Bluetooth signal to the circuit board, which transmits electric current to the legs via the wires. These currents mimic sensory input that directs the roach to move to the right or left, taking advantage of reflexive behavior. The roach’s brain is still needed to activate its muscles and get the cockroach to move.
However, the researchers soon realized that a cyborg insect might be required to function for many days or even weeks. The tiny lithium battery won’t be enough to meet the energy demands for that long, and, since the cockroach’s brain is intact, it may abandon any mission it was sent on and run away.
To boost the energy supply, an ultrathin solar cell was created and planted on the cockroach’s abdomen to overcome this issue. Despite being only 4×10⁻³ mm thick, the solar cell provided 50 times the power needed for the control unit. Unfortunately, it was wide enough to hinder the movement of the cockroach. During initial testing, the researchers found that the insect was moving at half of its original speed, and every time it flipped or fell, it wasn’t able to get back to its normal orientation.
The researchers made some adjustments to the position and arrangement of the cell, and finally, they were able to equip the cyborg cockroach with a solar cell and battery that provided 17.2 mW of power.
While explaining the significance of the solar cell unit further, research scientists and one of the authors of the study, Kenjiro Fukuda, told Ars Technica, “To achieve the urban rescue task, cyborg insects contain computers to control the locomotion, sensors for searching [for] people, and wireless communication device. These require 10-100 mW of total power consumption. Therefore, energy-harvesting devices mounted on the insects are crucial for increasing the range of activity and functionality of biobots.”
He also said that other scientists proposed additional types of biorobots ranging from moth robots to cyborg beetles. However, most of these cyborg insects lack energy-harvesting devices on their body because the area and load of the harvesting device considerably impair their mobility. So adding a suitable energy-harvesting device (the solar cell) for recharging the electronic controlling unit on a cyborg insect has been one of the main achievements of their research.
Cyborgs vs. soft robots
It may seem more practical and easy to use soft robots instead of cyborg insects for search-and-rescue missions. Soft robots would never abandon the mission like cyborg cockroaches; plus, they can be made faster and more efficient. So then, why do we need cyborg insects? The answer is energy and cost—to turn a cockroach into a cyborg, all we need is a miniature circuit, an energy source, some wires, a controlling unit, and a polymer backpack. A soft robot is entirely made from scratch.
Although connecting the wires to a cockroach’s legs may seem time-consuming, the amount of time required to construct a soft robot is greater. Moreover, such robots have high energy demands compared to their insect counterparts. “We control the locomotion of insects by using electric signals to sensory nerves. This approach requires a power consumption of ~100 uW, which is much smaller than the required power consumption of moving actuators for small robots (typically 100 mW or larger),” said Fukuda.
Apart from having the capabilities of a robot, a cyborg cockroach navigates an environment using the input it receives from its natural senses. This is something a soft robot can never accomplish, and therefore, the researchers argue that cyborg insects could provide better assistance during search-and-rescue missions compared to any other technology. Fukuda and his team are now planning to make cyborg versions of other types of insects, including ones that can fly.
Rupendra Brahambhatt is an experienced journalist and filmmaker. He covers science and culture news, and for the last five years, he has been actively working with some of the most innovative news agencies, magazines, and media brands operating in different parts of the globe.
Cyborg cockroaches that find earthquake survivors. A “robofly” that sniffs out gas leaks. Flying lightning bugs that pollinate farms in space.
These aren’t just buzzy ideas, they’re becoming reality.
Robotic engineers are scouring the insect world for inspiration.Some are strapping 3D printed sensors onto live Madagascar hissing cockroaches, while others are creating fully robotic bugs inspired by the ways insects move and fly.
Heavy robots are limited in what they can do. Building tinier and more agile robots, similar to how insects move and act, could vastly expand robots’ capabilities.
“If we think about the insect functions that animals can’t do,” said Kevin Chen, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at MIT, “that inspires us to think about what smaller, insect-scale robots can do, that larger robots cannot.”
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Most of the advances are in the research phase, years from commercialization. But they present tantalizing solutions for an array of industries, including emergency response, farming and energy.
The research is picking up the pace for a few reasons, experts said. Electronic sensors are getting smaller and better, largely because of smartwatch research. Fabrication techniques have advanced, making it easier to construct tiny parts. Small battery technology is also improving.
But several challenges remain.Tiny robots cannot replicate a larger robot’s workload. Although batteries are improving, they would need to be smaller and more powerful. Miniature parts that convert energy into robotic motion, called actuators, need to become more efficient. Sensors have to be even lighter.
“We start by looking at how insects solve these problems, and we’re making a lot of progress,” said Sawyer B. Fuller, an assistant professor who directs the Autonomous Insect Robotics Laboratory at the University of Washington. “But there’s a lot of things … we don’t have yet.”
Much of insect robot research can be divided into a few areas, researchers said. Some scientists build an entire robot to mimic the motion and size of real insects, such as bees and lightning bugs. Others put electronics on live insects and control them, essentially creating cyborgs (beings that have both organic and mechanical aspects). While some are experimenting with a hybrid — connecting parts of a live insect, such as an antennae, to a machine robot.
Robotic engineers started looking to insects for inspiration about 10 to 15 years ago. At the time, few research labs were studying it. “Ten years ago, I frankly think it sounded more like science fiction,” Chen said.
But over the years, more researchers have gotten into the space, largely because technology is advancing. Much of the activity has been driven by developments in carbon fibers and lasers, which can make “very fine features and complex structures” at a small scale, Chen added.
Electronic sensors have also gotten better, in large part because smartphones and smartwatches have spurred research to make tinier electronic parts.
“If you think about your smartphone, there are so many sensors within that,” Chen said. “You can really leverage a lot of those sensors or put those sensors into micro-scale robots.”
Kenjiro Fukuda, a researcher at Japan’s Riken Institute Thin-Film Device Laboratory, leads a team that is strapping 3D-printed sensors onto live Madagascar hissing cockroaches. The sensors function like a tiny backpack containing solar panels for power; a blue-tooth sensor for remote control and specialized computers that connect to the cockroach’s abdomen and send tiny shocks to direct it left or right.
Fukuda envisions these cyborg cockroaches helping in emergency situations, such as an earthquake. Survivors might be in the rubble and hard to spot from the naked eye, he said.
The cockroaches could be remote-controlled, and released into the rubble with carbon dioxide sensors and cameras on their backs, helping find people that need saving.
“Big people cannot enter under the rubble,” Fukuda said. “Small insects or small robots can.”
Fukuda said he could also apply this approach to other insects with large shells, such as beetles and cicadas. But many improvements need to be made to battery design and how much power the parts consume before this solution is deployed in real life, he said.
When it comes to cyborg insects, not everyone is excited. Jeff Sebo, an animal bioethics professor at New York University, said he worries how live insects might feel being controlled by humans while carrying heavy technology. It’s unclear if they feel pain or distress from it, he said, but that doesn’t mean humans should ignore that.
“We’re not even paying lip service to their welfare or rights,” he said. “We’re not even going through the motion of having laws or policies or review boards in place so that we can halfheartedly try to reduce the harms that we impose on them.”
Chen is creating flying lightning bug robots. These are fully robotic machines that mimic the way lightning bugs move, communicate and fly.
Inspired by the way lightning bugs use electroluminescence to glow and communicate in real life, Chen’s team built soft artificial muscles for flying that control robot wings and emit colored light during flight.
This could enable a swarm of these robots to communicate with each other, Chen said, and could be used to pollinate crops in vertical farms or even in space.
“If I want to grow crops in space, [I want] pollination,” he said. “In that scenario, a flying robot would be much, much more suitable than sending bees.”
Fuller said he looks to insects when creating tiny robots because it’s far better than relying on his imagination. “You see insects doing crazy things that you would just never be able to do at human scale,” he said. “We just look at how insects do it.”
(Video: Matt Stone/University of Washington)
(Video: University of Washington)
Fuller’s team is working to construct a robotic fly. Similar to the cyborg cockroaches, the flies could be used in search-and-rescue missions. They could also be unleashed to fly around and look for chemical leaks in the air or cracks in piping infrastructure.
“You open a suitcase and these little robotic flies fly around,” he said. “Then, once you know where the leak is, you can patch it.”
Fuller said he acknowledges there is a long way to go before his robots can do that. It will be difficult to miniaturize all the sensors, power packs and parts needed for robots to move and send data back to teams. Making batteries that are small enough but powerful enough to emit energy needed for robotic functions is a daunting challenge. Stabilizing robots that can flap their wings and fly but also carry sensors will take more design research.
Despite the difficulties, he said that scientists are also working to take parts of a live insect, such as moth antennae, and attach them to a robot that could one day read data from it. This hybrid method could be a sweet spot for insect robot researchers, he said.
“I think that’s the path to go,” Fuller added. “Take bits of the biology that really works well and do the rest robotically.”
Apparently, humans aren’t the only animals going keto. The German cockroach (Blattella germanica), one of the most common pests in the world, is evolving to have a glucose-free diet. Unlike many humans, it’s not because they’re suddenly watching their figure; rather, German cockroaches have inadvertently outwitted human pest control tactics by evolving to dislike sugar, specifically glucose. That could have huge implications for the population of cockroaches worldwide, which is of particular concern given their propensity to spread bacteria and disease.
The not-so-sweet insight emerged from new research coming out of North Carolina State University, where scientists study roach reproductive habits and evolutionary adaptations. There, Dr. Ayako Wada-Katsumata and a team of entomology researchers found evidence of significant changes involving sugar-averse German cockroaches and mating habits.
According to Dr. Coby Schal, professor of Urban Entomology, Insect Behavior, Chemical Ecology, Insect Physiology and head of the eponymous Schal Lab at North Carolina State University, the team’s new research shows that cockroaches have begun to deviate significantly compared to previously observed roach-mating behavior. Female lab roaches, housed in North Carolina lab originating from a Florida-strain, included a significant population of glucose-averse roaches; glucose is a simple sugar that is intrinsic to the processes of plant and animal life.
Surprisingly, researchers found these roaches were unwilling to complete traditional roach mating behavior (accepting what the research study refers to as “nuptial gifts” or “nuptial feedings.”) Further, these glucose-adverse female roaches chose not to complete the mating process, meaning there wouldn’t be any reproduction.
Lest your heart leap for joy at the idea of a significant population drop among roaches, curb your enthusiasm: these male roaches eventually found a workaround. That’s the bad news.
This new behavioral trait among roaches throws a wrench in traditional pest management control techniques that use sweet poison.
The good news — well, good news for roaches, that is — is that researchers found male roaches ingeniously overcame female glucose aversion during mating time. Roach mating — and foreplay, if you can call it that — traditionally lasts for up to 90 minutes. Male roaches adapted to female roach glucose hesitancy (meaning dislike for sugar) and shortened their mating rituals down to minutes or even seconds, while successfully completing fertilization. (If you read that and feel tempted to anthropomorphize female roaches and their sexual satisfaction — just don’t.)
The studies showed the most successful mating pairs were males and females who were both glucose averse. The least successful mating pairs were females who were glucose averse roaches with wild-type or glucose-loving males. While there were short-term population dips among glucose-averse females and wild-type males mating pairs, other more successful matches, including male/female roaches that were both glucose averse. Ultimately, the entire roach population within the lab study stayed within normal predicted ranges, despite this population of sugar-eschewing insects.
According to Dr. Schal, researchers are wondering if new behavioral traits like this could spread through different populations, making this mutation more prevalent.
So why is this research important? For one thing, roaches are a prominent pest — they tend to spread through human settlements, and can spread disease and cause other health problems in humans. And it is possible that this mutation could increase the roach population.
The majority of roaches, experts believe, consistently like sweet food — meaning food with sugar in it, like glucose.
“One of the takeaways is that animals, including roaches, have adaptations that they evolve in terms of natural selection,” Dr. Schal said. He noted that the “German cockroach, a pernicious household pest, plays an important etiological role in allergic disease and asthma. It also serves as a mechanical vector of pathogens, including antibiotic-resistant microbes.”
In other words, this new behavioral trait among roaches throws a wrench in traditional pest management control techniques that use sweet poison. Likewise, it’s obviously impossible for a lay person to know visually whether their local roach population is glucose-averse or not.
The problem with roach bait
So what is glucose aversion exactly, and why does it matter? Well, roaches are omnivorous scavengers. They can go for days without eating, but generally do poorly without any kind of liquid or water. When hungry, roaches will eat anything — including hair, paper, books, building material and a wide range of decaying life forms (including other dead roaches). But the majority of roaches, experts believe, consistently like sweet food — meaning food with sugar in it, like glucose.
According to Dr. Schal, roaches typically dislike bitter-tasting food items and prefer sweet food items. Traditionally, roach pest management has tried to improve the taste of bitter-tasting poisonous bait by wrapping sweetening-agents around the roach poison. Turns out, roaches have been on to our game for a while. They know we’re trying to kill them, and they’ve raised the stakes and adapted and evolved. It is something any evolutionary biologist could have predicted, though it’s frightening that this research actually confirms it.
How did this evolutionary adaptation happen? Well, roaches who quickly eat the sugar-laced poisoned bait die quickly; consequently, the glucose-loving roaches saw their lives-and reproductive capabilities cut short. Previously-published North Carolina State University research found that roaches were more likely to survive if they were glucose averse, meaning they avoid sweetened bait. Naturally, these roaches became more prevalent compared with glucose-loving roaches, and their genes spread through the population.
These glucose-averse roach offspring are normal in almost every way, said Dr. Schal, but future generations of roaches will carry this genetic mutation. And roach offspring will most likely be glucose averse as well, he said, as these genes are passed down from the parent roach to offspring. If a roach is glucose averse, he said, means glucose tastes bitter or unpleasant to roaches. But if glucose-averse roaches are in starvation mode, they may temporarily eat glucose to survive, Dr. Schal said.
Among urban roaches, it is currently unclear what the ratio is of glucose-averse to glucose-loving roaches — at least, as compared with other kinds of roaches, such as those raised in the lab. But if this trend is ongoing among urban roaches, the majority may become glucose-averse at some point in the future.
Roaches are already notorious survivalists
Before you spiral contemplating the rise of mutant roach populations conquering the world (or is that just me?), it’s important to note that no recent entomological research has shown any concrete evidence that roach populations will necessarily have wildly increased population numbers because of this, or because of anything else — at least, not any time soon. The fact is, we already know that roaches are pretty adaptable: they can survive about ten times as much radiation as humans, can live without their heads for a month, and can live off dead and decaying matter alone.
When it comes to roach population growth, it’s hard to say how many roaches there are in any given geographic area, said Dr. Phililp G. Koehler , University of Florida Professor Emeritus of Entomology and Nematology.
“Roaches are pretty much endemic,” he said.
Urban roaches have a relatively short lifespan. A German cockroach’s lifespan is typically 8-10 months, said Dr. Schal. A female German cockroach can produce up to 320 roach offspring. On the other hand, an American cockroach can live 1-2 years, he said. One American roach female roach is capable of producing an average of 240 roaches throughout its average lifetime.
Regardless of species variations, roach population numbers can thus increase dramatically if uncontrolled. And this doesn’t even take into account asexual roach reproduction, through which female roaches can continue to reproduce for years without a resident male.
According to Dr. Koehler, any building structure that is older and/or has structural problems will be more likely to have thousands of cockroach residents. “There are always more roaches hidden in the walls that you actually see,” he said.
Roaches can be found in every state in the country. There are a handful of roach species that have adapted to live around and inside human habitats, including the German cockroach, the Asian cockroach, the American cockroach and the Turkestan cockroach (Notably, the German cockroach is not actually from Germany, nor is the American cockroach originally from the U.S.) According to a U.S. Census Bureau 2021 survey, about 14 million households self-reported seeing roaches in their home over the last 12 months. The survey is mum on whether these households observed a single roach, or thousands.
According to Dr. Koehler, any building structure that is older and/or has structural problems will be more likely to have thousands of cockroach residents. “There are always more roaches hidden in the walls that you actually see,” he said.
So while some may incorrectly assume that roach infestations are primarily a scourge among low-income or untidy households, the presence of urban roaches is an unfortunate fact of life for many, regardless of income or socio-economic status or household cleanliness. Increased reports of roach sightings in multiple states stem from the fact that sewer roaches or aquatic roaches may simply be looking for new living quarters.
Roaches and disease
Most humans find roaches disgusting, but can they actually make you sick? Potentially. And what kinds of pathogens can you get? Experts believe that roaches have transmitted plague, typhoid, cholera and dysentery in the past. But they also spread modern diseases. Indeed, cockroaches are thought to carry bacteria that, if deposited on food or around humans, could potentially cause salmonella, staphylococcus, and streptococcus, which can result in serious stomach issues. (Fortuitously, COVID-19 is not one of these diseases; research experts like Dr. Schal affirmed that roaches cannot transmit SARS-CoV-2, the COVID virus, to humans.)
But throughout pandemic lockdowns — with people staying at home, working at home, and yes, eating at home more — roach infestations have followed. Why? Well, human habits, mostly. Roaches follow the food, Dr. Schal said.
Dr. Phililp Koehler says his academic interest in roach research started during his Naval military career as a Lieutenant, Medical Entomologist, in the U.S. Navy’s Medical Service Corps over 50 years ago. In those years, rampant roach infestations were common on both military and civilian ships. Many more leisure travelers traveled from point A to point B on a ship for extended periods, for both domestic and international travel, he said. This, Dr. Koehler noted, is most likely how different non-native roach species like the Asian cockroach ended up in unexpected regions in North America, including port cities in Florida. The Asian roach then spread to other states, a trend that he researched extensively decades ago.
Returning to the implications of the North Carolina research study on glucose averse roaches, Dr. Schal says there are actually additional findings that might be published as soon as this year. “This study also represents the best understood case of behavioral resistance of pest species to pest control at the evolutionary, behavioral, and cellular level,” he added. It is possible that this newly-emerged roach behavior could prophesy future roach adaptations. Furthermore, this research is important not only for pest-management knowledge, he said, “but also it could potentially have public health implications when it comes to disease transmission.”
Cartoon of CRISPR in cockroaches. Credit: Shirai et al./Cell Reports Methods
According to a paper published in the journal Cell Reports Methods by Cell Press on May 16th, 2022, researchers devised a CRISPR-Cas9 technique to enable gene editing in cockroaches. The straightforward and effective “direct parental” CRISPR (DIPA-CRISPR) procedure involves injecting materials into female adults where eggs are developing rather than into the embryos themselves.
“In a sense, insect researchers have been freed from the annoyance of egg injections,” says senior study author Takaaki Daimon of Kyoto University. “We can now edit insect genomes more freely and at will. In principle, this method should work for more than 90% of insect species.”
“By improving the DIPA-CRISPR method and making it even more efficient and versatile, we may be able to enable genome editing in almost all of the more than 1.5 million species of insects, opening up a future in which we can fully utilize the amazing biological functions of insects.” — Takaaki Daimon
Current approaches for insect gene editing typically require microinjection of materials into early embryos, severely limiting its application to many species. For example, past studies have not achieved genetic manipulation of cockroaches due to their unique reproductive system. In addition, insect gene editing often requires expensive equipment, a specific experimental setup for each species, and highly skilled laboratory personnel. “These problems with conventional methods have plagued researchers who wish to perform genome editing on a wide variety of insect species,” Daimon says.
To overcome these limitations, Daimon and his collaborators injected Cas9 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) into the main body cavity of adult female cockroaches to introduce heritable mutations in developing egg cells. The results demonstrated that gene editing efficiency—the proportion of edited individuals out of the total number of individuals hatched—could reach as high as 22%. In the red flour beetle, DIPA-CRISPR achieved an efficiency of more than 50%. Moreover, the researchers generated gene knockin beetles by co-injecting single-stranded oligonucleotides and Cas9 RNPs, but the efficiency is low and should be further improved.
The successful application of DIPA-CRISPR in two evolutionarily distant species demonstrates its potential for broad use. But the approach is not directly applicable to all insect species, including fruit flies. In addition, the experiments showed that the most critical parameter for success is the stage of the adult females injected. As a result, DIPA-CRISPR requires good knowledge of ovary development. This can be challenging in some species, given the diverse life histories and reproductive strategies in insects.
Despite these limitations, DIPA-CRISPR is accessible, highly practical, and could be readily implemented in laboratories, extending the application of gene editing to a wide diversity of model and non-model insect species. The technique requires minimal equipment for adult injection, and only two components—Cas9 protein and single-guide
Cell Reports Methods” width=”800″ height=”530″/>
Cartoon of CRISPR in cockroaches. Credit: Shirai et al./Cell Reports Methods
Researchers have developed a CRISPR-Cas9 approach to enable gene editing in cockroaches, according to a study published by Cell Press on May 16th in the journal Cell Reports Methods. The simple and efficient technique, named “direct parental” CRISPR (DIPA-CRISPR), involves the injection of materials into female adults where eggs are developing rather than into the embryos themselves.
“In a sense, insect researchers have been freed from the annoyance of egg injections,” says senior study author Takaaki Daimon of Kyoto University. “We can now edit insect genomes more freely and at will. In principle, this method should work for more than 90% of insect species.”
Current approaches for insect gene editing typically require microinjection of materials into early embryos, severely limiting its application to many species. For example, past studies have not achieved genetic manipulation of cockroaches due to their unique reproductive system. In addition, insect gene editing often requires expensive equipment, a specific experimental setup for each species, and highly skilled laboratory personnel. “These problems with conventional methods have plagued researchers who wish to perform genome editing on a wide variety of insect species,” Daimon says.
To overcome these limitations, Daimon and his collaborators injected Cas9 ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) into the main body cavity of adult female cockroaches to introduce heritable mutations in developing egg cells. The results demonstrated that gene editing efficiency—the proportion of edited individuals out of the total number of individuals hatched—could reach as high as 22%. In the red flour beetle, DIPA-CRISPR achieved an efficiency of more than 50%. Moreover, the researchers generated gene knockin beetles by co-injecting single-stranded oligonucleotides and Cas9 RNPs, but the efficiency is low and should be further improved.
The successful application of DIPA-CRISPR in two evolutionarily distant species demonstrates its potential for broad use. But the approach is not directly applicable to all insect species, including fruit flies. In addition, the experiments showed that the most critical parameter for success is the stage of the adult females injected. As a result, DIPA-CRISPR requires good knowledge of ovary development. This can be challenging in some species, given the diverse life histories and reproductive strategies in insects.
Despite these limitations, DIPA-CRISPR is accessible, highly practical, and could be readily implemented in laboratories, extending the application of gene editing to a wide diversity of model and non-model insect species. The technique requires minimal equipment for adult injection, and only two components—Cas9 protein and single-guide RNA—greatly simplifying procedures for gene editing. Moreover, commercially available, standard Cas9 can be used for adult injection, eliminating the need for time-consuming custom engineering of the protein.
“By improving the DIPA-CRISPR method and making it even more efficient and versatile, we may be able to enable genome editing in almost all of the more than 1.5 million species of insects, opening up a future in which we can fully utilize the amazing biological functions of insects,” Daimon says. “In principle, it may be also possible that other arthropods could be genome edited using a similar approach. These include agricultural and medical pests such as mites and ticks, and important fishery resources such as shrimp and crabs.”
World’s first gene editing tools for ticks may help decrease tick-borne diseases
More information:
Takaaki Daimon, DIPA-CRISPR is a simple and accessible method for insect gene editing, Cell Reports Methods (2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2022.100215. www.cell.com/cell-reports-meth … 2667-2375(22)00078-9
Citation:
CRISPR now possible in cockroaches (2022, May 16)
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When the rock now known as the Chicxulub impactor plummeted from outer space and slammed into the Earth 66 million years ago, cockroaches were there. The impact caused a massive earthquake, and scientists think it also triggered volcanic eruptions thousands of miles from the impact site. Three-quarters of plants and animals on Earth died, including all dinosaurs, except for some species that were ancestors of today’s birds.
How could roaches a couple of inches long survive when so many powerful animals went extinct? It turns out that they were nicely equipped to live through a meteoric catastrophe.
If you’ve ever seen a cockroach, you’ve probably noticed that their bodies are very flat. This is not an accident. Flatter insects can squeeze themselves into tighter places. This enables them to hide practically anywhere – and it may have helped them survive the Chicxulub impact.
Related: Here’s why cockroaches can survive just about anything
When the meteor struck, temperatures on Earth’s surface skyrocketed. Many animals had nowhere to flee, but roaches could take shelter in tiny soil crevices, which provide excellent protection from heat.
The meteor’s impact triggered a cascade of effects. It kicked up so much dust that the sky darkened. As the sun dimmed, temperatures plunged and conditions became wintry around the globe. With little sunlight, surviving plants struggled to grow, and many other organisms that relied on those plants went hungry.
Not cockroaches, though. Unlike some insects that prefer to eat one specific plant, cockroaches are omnivorous scavengers. This means they will eat most foods that come from animals or plants as well as cardboard, some kinds of clothing and even poop. Having appetites that aren’t picky has allowed cockroaches to survive lean times since the Chicxulub extinction and other natural disasters.
Another helpful trait is that cockroaches lay their eggs in little protective cases. These egg cartons look like dried beans and are called oothecae, which means “egg cases.” Like phone cases, oothecae are hard and protect their contents from physical damage and other threats, such as flooding and drought. Some cockroaches may have waited out part of the Chicxulub catastrophe from the comfort of their oothecae.
Modern cockroaches are little survivors that can live just about anywhere on land, from the heat of the tropics to some of the coldest parts of the globe. Scientists estimate that there over 4,000 cockroach species.
A handful of these species like to live with humans and quickly become pests. Once cockroaches become established in a building, it’s hard to rid every little crack of these insects and their oothecae. When large numbers of roaches are present in unsanitary places, they can spread diseases. The biggest threat they pose to human health is from allergens they produce that can trigger asthma attacks and allergic reactions in some people.
Cockroach pests are hard to manage because they can resist many chemical insecticides and because they have the same abilities that helped their ancestors outlive many dinosaurs. Still, cockroaches are much more than a pest to control. Researchers study cockroaches to understand how they move and how their bodies are designed to get ideas for building better robots.
As a scientist, I see all insects as beautiful, six-legged inspirations. Cockroaches have already overcome odds that were too great for dinosaurs. If another meteorite hit the Earth, I’d be more worried for humans than for cockroaches.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
Among the many new features included in yesterday’s Version 2.0.0 update in Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the addition of Villager visits, where Villagers either invite you round to their house for a nice chat and a game of cards, or come to visit you in your own home.
Seeing your Villagers walking around your home for the first time, judging every decoration decision you’ve made before casually flopping down in the middle of your living room to read a book, can feel a little surreal, but it sure is nice to have some company. Well, unless your house is full of cockroaches, at least.
You see, if you haven’t played the game for a long time, your house will currently be swarmed with cockroaches. You’ll spot them running around across your carpets, and unless you squash them (the poor things!) they’ll stay there forever more.
Interestingly, with the new update, Villagers now have their own reactions to seeing cockroaches in your home. It’s safe to say they’re not best pleased:
No one wants a house guest to say that their humble abode is disgusting before running out the door, so you might want to consider cleaning up ASAP. If a Villager does come knocking before you get it sorted, well… You can always boot them off the island to avoid having to speak to them ever again?