CRISPR/Cas9‐mediated ebony knockout results in puparium melanism in Spodoptera litura

Insect body pigmentation and coloration are critical to adaption to the environment. To explore the mechanisms that drive pigmentation, we used the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated protein 9 (Cas9) genome editing system to target the ebony gene in the non‐model insect Spodoptera litura . Ebony is crucial to melanin synthesis in insects. By directly injecting Cas9 messenger RNA and ebony...