The overexpression of insect endogenous small RNAs in transgenic rice inhibits growth and delays pupation of striped stem borer (Chilo suppressalis)

BACKGROUND: The striped stem borer (SSB), Chilo suppressalis Walker, is a major rice insect pest worldwide. RNA interference (RNAi) has become a promising strategy for developing insect-resistant crops. In a previous study, five double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) targeting important SSB housekeeping genes were overexpressed in rice, but none of the acquired dsRNA-transgenic rice plants showed significant effects on SSB. RESULTS: Thirteen selected SSB endogenous small RNAs, predicted as SSB novel microRNAs (miRNAs), were overexpressed in rice using artificial miRNA (amiRNA) expression technology. Feeding tests showed that two out of 13 selected SSB novelmiRNAs caused significant growth inhibition for feeding SSB larvae based on transgenic rice expression. Pupation was delayed 4 days when SSB larvae consecutively fed on transgenic rice expressing the SSB novelmiRNA candidate csu-novel-miR15 (csu-15 rice). Gene expression analysis confirmed that the expression levels of at least six SSB unigenes significantly changed (i.e., were upor down-regulated) after feeding on csu-15 rice. CONCLUSIONS: Our research demonstrated a novel RNAi strategy using SSB endogenous small RNAs to develop RNAi crops for pest management; this strategy is different from the common RNAi resulting from transgenic dsRNAs or amiRNAs targeting certain insect endogenous genes. (C) 2016 Society of Chemical Industry