1
|
Alegria AD, Joshi AS, Mendana JB, Khosla K, Smith KT, Auch B, Donovan M, Bischof J, Gohl DM, Kodandaramaiah SB. High-throughput genetic manipulation of multicellular organisms using a machine-vision guided embryonic microinjection robot. Genetics 2024; 226:iyae025. [PMID: 38373262 PMCID: PMC10990426 DOI: 10.1093/genetics/iyae025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 01/02/2024] [Accepted: 01/08/2024] [Indexed: 02/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Microinjection is a technique used for transgenesis, mutagenesis, cell labeling, cryopreservation, and in vitro fertilization in multiple single and multicellular organisms. Microinjection requires specialized skills and involves rate-limiting and labor-intensive preparatory steps. Here, we constructed a machine-vision guided generalized robot that fully automates the process of microinjection in fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos. The robot uses machine learning models trained to detect embryos in images of agar plates and identify specific anatomical locations within each embryo in 3D space using dual view microscopes. The robot then serially performs a microinjection in each detected embryo. We constructed and used three such robots to automatically microinject tens of thousands of Drosophila and zebrafish embryos. We systematically optimized robotic microinjection for each species and performed routine transgenesis with proficiency comparable to highly skilled human practitioners while achieving up to 4× increases in microinjection throughput in Drosophila. The robot was utilized to microinject pools of over 20,000 uniquely barcoded plasmids into 1,713 embryos in 2 days to rapidly generate more than 400 unique transgenic Drosophila lines. This experiment enabled a novel measurement of the number of independent germline integration events per successfully injected embryo. Finally, we showed that robotic microinjection of cryoprotective agents in zebrafish embryos significantly improves vitrification rates and survival of cryopreserved embryos post-thaw as compared to manual microinjection. We anticipate that the robot can be used to carry out microinjection for genome-wide manipulation and cryopreservation at scale in a wide range of organisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Andrew D Alegria
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Amey S Joshi
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Jorge Blanco Mendana
- University of Minnesota Genomics Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Kanav Khosla
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Kieran T Smith
- Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA
| | - Benjamin Auch
- University of Minnesota Genomics Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Margaret Donovan
- University of Minnesota Genomics Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - John Bischof
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Daryl M Gohl
- University of Minnesota Genomics Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| | - Suhasa B Kodandaramaiah
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
| |
Collapse
|