Microinjection of Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera, Embryos for Germline Transformation, or CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing.

The western corn rootworm (WCR) is an important pest of corn and is well known for its ability to rapidly adapt to pest management strategies. Although RNA interference (RNAi) has proved to be a powerful tool for studying WCR biology, it has its limitations. Specifically, RNAi itself is transient (i.e. does not result in long-term Mendelian inheritance of the associated phenotype), and it requires knowing the DNA sequence of the target gene. The latter can be limiting if the phenotype of interest is controlled by poorly conserved, or even novel genes, because identifying useful targets would be challenging, if not impossible. Therefore, the number of tools in WCR's genomic toolbox should be expanded by the development of methods that could be used to create stable mutant strains and enable sequence-independent surveys of the WCR genome. Herein, we detail the methods used to collect and microinject precellular WCR embryos with nucleic acids. While the protocols described herein are aimed at the creation of transgenic WCR, CRISPR/Cas9-genome editing could also be performed using the same protocols, with the only difference being the composition of the solution injected into the embryos.