Nat. Commun. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05425-9 (2018)

Genome engineering in arthropods with the CRISPR-Cas9 system is tedious, requiring microinjection of the nuclease and target sequence into individual embryos with expensive equipment. Additionally, it does not work with many species. Authors of a recent study circumvent this process by taking advantage of vitellogenesis, a nutrient delivery system driven by receptor-mediated endocytosis of yolk precursor proteins (YPP). To accomplish this, investigators conjugated the ribonucleoprotein complex to a truncated YPP and then injected the construct into female mosquitoes in order to transform eggs en masse, a process called receptor-mediated ovary transduction of cargo (ReMOT Control). After optimizing experimental conditions, including an endosomal release reagent, authors observed ReMOT Control transformation efficiencies similar to embryo injection. As YPP mediated uptake is conserved across oviparous taxa, the technique holds much promise for egg-laying species recalcitrant to other techniques.