RNAi-mediated mortality of Culex quinquefasciatus using two delivery methods of potential field application.

Autor: Khalil SMS; Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia; Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute, Agricultural Research Center, 9 Gamaa Street, Giza 12619, Egypt. Electronic address: saykhalil@ksu.edu.sa., Alahmed AM; Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia., Munawar K; Plant Protection Department, College of Food and Agricultural Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Acta tropica [Acta Trop] 2023 Jul; Vol. 243, pp. 106938. Date of Electronic Publication: 2023 May 03.
DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2023.106938
Abstrakt: With increasing reports of resistance to traditional insecticides, there is a need for innovative ways for mosquito control. RNAi is a sequence-specific molecular biology technique for gene silencing through degradation of mRNA and prevention of protein translation. Some genes are essential for insect life and their silencing can lead to insect morbidity and/or mortality. Searching for lethal genes in Culex quinquefasciatus, we found dynamin, ROP, HMGR and JHAMT to be lethal targets for RNAi in initial screening through larval soaking in dsRNA solution. Two delivery methods, chitosan nanoparticles and genetically modified yeast cells, were used in this study and proved effective in inducing high larval mortality and low adult emergence. Adult emergence after chitosan nanoparticles/dsRNA treatment was 12.67% ± 1.76 (HMGR), 17.33% ± 1.76 (dynamin), 18.67% ± 0.67 (ROP), and 35.33% ± 0.67 (JHAMT). Genetically modified yeast increased mortalities as adult emergence was 8.33% ± 1.67 (HMGR), 13.33% ± 3.33 (dynamin), and 10% ± 2.89 (JHAMT and ROP). Chitosan nanoparticles retained 75% of its biological activity whereas yeast cells retained >95% of their activities after 7 days of incubation in water. In conclusion, our results showed that these four genes are good targets for C. quinquefasciatus control using RNAi packaged in either chitosan nanoparticles or genetically modified yeast cells.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier B.V.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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