Genome and Genetic Engineering of the House Cricket (): A Resource for Sustainable Agriculture.

The house cricket, , is one of the most farmed insects worldwide and the foundation of an emerging industry using insects as a sustainable food source. Edible insects present a promising alternative for protein production amid a plethora of reports on climate change and biodiversity loss largely driven by agriculture. As with other crops, genetic resources are needed to improve crickets for food and other applications. We present the first high quality annotated genome assembly of from long read data and scaffolded to chromosome level, providing information needed for genetic manipulation. Gene groups related to immunity were annotated and will be useful for improving value to insect farmers. Metagenome scaffolds in the assembly, including Invertebrate Iridescent Virus 6 (IIV6), were submitted as host-associated sequences. We demonstrate both CRISPR/Cas9-mediated knock-in and knock-out of and discuss implications for the food, pharmaceutical, and other industries. RNAi was demonstrated to disrupt the function of the vermilion eye-color gene producing a useful white-eye biomarker phenotype. We are utilizing these data to develop technologies for downstream commercial applications, including more nutritious and disease-resistant crickets, as well as lines producing valuable bioproducts, such as vaccines and antibiotics.