Plant-mediated RNAi for controlling apolygus lucorum

Abstract

The polyphagous mirid bugApolyguslucorum (Heteroptera: Miridae) is a serious pest of agricultural crops in China, with more than 200 species of host plants including two very important crops, maize and soybean. Currently, prevention and control of A. lucorum rely mainly on chemical pesticides that cause environmental as well as health related problems. Plant-mediated RNAi has proven to offer great potential for pest control in the past decade. In this study, we screened and obtained seven candidate genes (Alucβ-actin, AlucV-ATPase-A/D/E, AlucEif5A, AlucEcR-A, AlucIAP) by injection-based RNAiwhichproducedA.lucorummortalityratesof46.01–82.32%atday7afterinjection. Among them, the plant-mediated RNAi ofAlucV-ATPase-E was successfully introduced into transgenic maize and soybean, and the populations ofA.lucorum were significantly decreased following feeding on the transgenic maize and soybean. These results are intended to provide helpful insight into the generation of bug-resistant plants through a plant-mediated RNAi strategy.