The Defensin NldefB as a Potential Target for Brown Planthopper Control Based on the Combination of RNA Interference and Fungal Insect Pathogen.

ABSTRACT: Defensins are a class of small cysteine-rich cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) that play vital roles in immune-regulating insect-microbe interaction, offering great potential for developing pest control approaches using RNA interference (RNAi) and insect pathogens. However, the biocontrol potential of defensins from the destructive rice pest Nilaparvata lugens (brown planthopper, BPH) remains largely unexplored. Here, we identified and functionally characterized a defensin-encoding gene NldefB in BPH. The open reading frame (ORF) of NldefB is 315 bp in length, encoding 104 amino acids with a conserved Knot1 domain. The qRT-PCR results showed that the transcription level of NldefB went upward with the increasing developmental stages, with the highest express

SUBMITTER: Lan CP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12564868 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature