RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Generation of heritable germline mutations in the jewel wasp Nasonia vitripennis using CRISPR/Cas9 JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 096578 DO 10.1101/096578 A1 Ming Li A1 Lauren Yun Cook Au A1 Deema Douglah A1 Abigail Chong A1 Bradley J. White A1 Patrick M. Ferree A1 Omar S. Akbari YR 2016 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/12/23/096578.abstract AB The revolutionary RNA-guided endonuclease CRISPR/Cas9 system has proven to be a powerful tool for gene editing in a plethora of organisms. Here, utilizing this system we developed an efficient protocol for the generation of heritable germline mutations in the parasitoid jewel wasp, Nasonia vitripennis, a rising insect model organism for the study of evolution, development of axis pattern formation, venom production, haplo-diploid sex determination, and host–symbiont interactions. To establish CRISPR-directed gene editing in N. vitripennis, we targeted a conserved eye pigmentation gene cinnabar, generating several independent heritable germline mutations in this gene. Briefly, to generate these mutants, we developed a protocol to efficiently collect N. vitripennis eggs from a parasitized flesh fly pupa, Sarcophaga bullata, inject these eggs with Cas9/guide RNA mixtures, and transfer injected eggs back into the host to continue development. We also describe a flow for screening mutants and establishing stable mutant strains through genetic crosses. Overall, our results demonstrate that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is a powerful tool for genome manipulation in N. vitripennis, with strong potential for expansion to target critical genes, thus allowing for the investigation of a number of important biological phenomena in this organism.