Welcome to Chinese Journal of Biological Control,Today is

Chinese Journal Of Biological Control ›› 2020, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (3): 452-457.DOI: 10.16409/j.cnki.2095-039x.2020.03.023

• SCIENTIFIC NOTES • Previous Articles     Next Articles

RNAi Effects on Membrane-Bound Trehalase Gene in Ostrinia furnacalis Larvae

JIN Tingting1, GE Feng2, WU Jie1   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory for Insect-Pollinator Biology of the Ministry of Agriculture/Institute of Apicultural Research, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China;
    2. State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management of Pest Insects and Rodents/Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2019-10-24 Online:2020-06-08 Published:2020-06-12

Abstract: Trehalose is the blood sugar component. The catabolism of trehalose is catalyzed by trehalase, providing energy for insects and the metabolite, glucose, as substrate for chitin synthesis. Chitin is an important component of peritrophic membranes (PMs), which play important roles in facilitating food digestion and providing protection to the gut epithelium. Trehalase and chitin synthase are the first and the final enzymes in the chitin synthesis pathway. In this study, RNAi was performed by means of oral delivery of double-stranded RNA of OfMT gene. The results show that the expression of both the OfMT and OfCHSB genes were interfered (52% and 53% down-regulated) in 48 h. Meanwhile, the growth of Asia corn borer larvae were inhibited. Further findings by hematoxylin-ethanol staining and chitin labeling show that the fat body tissue and chitin content were reduced in hamocoel and midgut PMs. The results suggest that it is feasible to silence OfMT by feeding dsRNA to the corn borer larvae and that OfMT can be the target gene for biocontrol of the borer.

Key words: Ostrinia furnacalis, membrane-bound trehalase, RNAi, chitin synthase, peritrophic membranes

CLC Number: