A Mechatronic Microinjection Platform for Gene Delivery to Planarian

We presents a microinjection system for gene delivery to planarian. The system consists of two parts: a planarian-fixing platform, which provides a low-temperature environment to make planarian become motionless for injection, and a nanoliter injector (nanoliter-scale microinjector). The system is tested by injecting fluorescent microbeads and gene (e.g. dsRNA) respectively into planarian. In particular, successful delivery of DjAg02 dsRNA leads to a reduction of DjAg02 expression, which results in a degenerated phenotype of planarian. The results show our system as an alternative to traditional gene delivery (i.e. ingestion, which performs delivery by feeding planarian genetic substances mixed food). Our system is applicable to studying the function of genes related to starvation condition. Additionally, the dosage of genetic substances is consistent, which is required for the following analyses.