Skip to main content
ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Systematic Entomology Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #388977
Research Project: Systematics of Acari and Hemiptera: Plant Pests, Predators, and Disease Vectors

Location: Systematic Entomology Laboratory

Title: Identification the fibroin of Stigmaeopsis nanjingensis by nanocarrier-based transdermal dsRNA delivery system

Author
item LI, XIA - Guizhou University
item LIU, RUNDONG - Guizhou University
item GANG, LI - Guizhou University
item JIN, DAOCHAO - Guizhou University
item GUO, JIANJUN - Guizhou University
item Ochoa, Ronald - Ron
item YI, TIANCI - Guizhou University

Submitted to: Systematic and Applied Acarology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/19/2021
Publication Date: 5/11/2022
Citation: Li, X., Liu, R., Gang, L., Jin, D., Guo, J., Ochoa, R., Yi, T. 2022. Identification the fibroin of Stigmaeopsis nanjingensis by nanocarrier-based transdermal dsRNA delivery system. Systematic and Applied Acarology. 86(4-5):1-17. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00718-7.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10493-022-00718-7

Interpretive Summary: More than 900 species of spider mites are known worldwide and all are plant feeding. Some of these spider mite pests produce a double layer of dense silk for protection and their control is difficult. The bamboo mite is an invasive species just identified in the United States that has been very successful moving around the world because its protective behavior. This article reports a new molecular nanocarrier delivery system to overcome the dense protective webbing and combat these mites. The findings of this research will be helpful for pest control practices, IPM, quarantine officers and mite scientist working with mite species that produce dense webbing on the host plants.

Technical Abstract: Stigmaeopsis nanjingensis (Ma et Yuan) (Acari: Tetranychidae) is an important pest on bamboo, feeding behavior and silk production by the female adult mites is seriously harmful to bamboo leaves. Because of its small size, silking and cocooning, the mite is difficult to control. This study discusses a fast and easy method for the prevention and control of pests on the basis of disturbing the spinning behaviour of the pests. However, S. nanjingensis are host specific and eat only bamboo leaves, the Leaf margin is highly hydrophobic, which makes dsRNA difficult to immerse, it is also a challenge to use the most commonly used feeding methods to inhibit gene expression in mites. In this study, we chose to deliver dsRNA to interfere with the expression of fibroin by body wall permeation with a nanomaterial-based delivery system. The dsRNA/nanocarrier formulation droplets could enter the body cavity within 2 minutes after falling on the mite. The fibroin silencing efficiency was 75.4%, and the results of electron microscopy showed that in the dsRNA/nanocarrier treatment group, the morphological structure of the silk thread was damaged to some extent. This study demonstrated the effectiveness of a nanocarrier-based percutaneous dsRNA delivery system in S. nanjingensis and the effect of the fibroin gene on the spinning behaviour of S. nanjingensis. These findings may provide a new delivery system for RNAi-based control of spider mites that utilize protective webbing in the field.