Nanoparticle-Shielded dsRNA Delivery for Enhancing RNAi Efficiency in Cotton Spotted Bollworm <i>Earias vittella</i> (Lepidoptera: Nolidae)

oleh: Shelja Sandal, Satnam Singh, Gulshan Bansal, Ramandeep Kaur, Kanakachari Mogilicherla, Suneet Pandher, Amit Roy, Gurmeet Kaur, Pankaj Rathore, Anu Kalia

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-05-01

Deskripsi

The spotted bollworm <i>Earias vittella</i> (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) is a polyphagous pest with enormous economic significance, primarily affecting cotton and okra. However, the lack of gene sequence information on this pest has a significant constraint on molecular investigations and the formulation of superior pest management strategies. An RNA-seq-based transcriptome study was conducted to alleviate such limitations, and de novo assembly was performed to obtain transcript sequences of this pest. Reference gene identification across <i>E. vittella</i> developmental stages and RNAi treatments were conducted using its sequence information, which resulted in identifying <i>transcription elongation factor</i> (<i>TEF</i>), <i>V-type proton ATPase</i> (<i>V-ATPase</i>), and <i>Glyceraldehyde -3-phosphate dehydrogenase</i> (<i>GAPDH</i>) as the most suitable reference genes for normalization in RT-qPCR-based gene expression studies. The present study also identified important developmental, RNAi pathway, and RNAi target genes and performed life-stage developmental expression analysis using RT-qPCR to select the optimal targets for RNAi. We found that naked dsRNA degradation in the <i>E. vittella</i> hemolymph is the primary reason for poor RNAi. A total of six genes including <i>Juvenile hormone methyl transferase</i> (<i>JHAMT</i>)<i>, Chitin synthase</i> (<i>CHS</i>)<i>, Aminopeptidase</i> (<i>AMN</i>)<i>, Cadherin</i> (<i>CAD</i>)<i>, Alpha-amylase</i> (<i>AMY</i>), and <i>V-type proton ATPase</i> (<i>V-ATPase</i>) were selected and knocked down significantly with three different nanoparticles encapsulated dsRNA conjugates, i.e., Chitosan-dsRNA, carbon quantum dots-dsRNA (CQD-dsRNA), and Lipofectamine-dsRNA conjugate. These results demonstrate that feeding nanoparticle-shielded dsRNA silences target genes and suggests that nanoparticle-based RNAi can efficiently manage this pest.