PLANT MEDIATED RNAi : A NEW LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST INSECT PESTS

• Published in: International journal of biotechnology applications Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 163
• Main Authors: Navale, P M, Maligeppagol, M, Swamy, H M Mahadeva, Ramasamy, A, Sowmya, H D, Krishna, V, Babu, K Prasad, Kumbar, B M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.01.2014
• ISSN: 0975-9123

RNA interference (RNAi) is a potent tool in silencing of genes with high specificity in both invertebrates and vertebrates, thus, it has been widely applied to analyze gene function in various organisms including the insects. This high specificity of gene silencing has potential applications in insect pest management. Recent studies, however, have indicated that, specific inhibition of gene expression in insects can also be attained by feeding and topical application of double stranded RNA (dsRNA) in certain insect species. The specific gene silencing using RNAi with feeding and in vivo dsRNA delivery methods holds outstanding promise of application of RNAi for controlling both agriculturally and medically important insect pests. Indeed, transgenic plants expressing dsRNA of specific genes have already been demonstrated for plant resistance against insect pests. This manuscript highlights the improvements and vistas of RNAi technologies in insect pest management, which in turn provides methods for producing transgenic plants express the dsRNA molecules, as well as pesticide agents and commodity products produced by the inventive plants.