Intron-assisted, viroid-based production of insecticidal circular double-stranded RNA in Escherichia coli.

ABSTRACT: RNA interference (RNAi) is a natural mechanism for protecting against harmful genetic elements and regulating gene expression, which can be artificially triggered by the delivery of homologous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). This mechanism can be exploited as a highly specific and environmentally friendly pest control strategy. To this aim, systems for producing large amounts of recombinant dsRNA are necessary. We describe a system to efficiently produce large amounts of circular dsRNA in Escherichia coli and demonstrate the efficient insecticidal activity of these molecules against Western corn rootworm (WCR, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte), a highly damaging pest of corn crops. In our system, the two strands of the dsRNA are expressed in E. coli embedded within

SUBMITTER: Ortola B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8582998 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature