ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Pest Management
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fagro.2025.1613851
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvancing Plant Defense: Genome Editing, RNAi, and Synthetic Biology for Sustainable Pest ControlView all 3 articles
Evidence of vacuolar-ATPase gene mediated RNA interference on Systena frontalis (F) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) adults
Provisionally accepted
- University of Georgia, Griffin Campus, Griffin, United States
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Systena frontalis (F) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) is a serious polyphagous pest in containerized ornamental nurseries in the central, mid-west, and eastern United States. Adults feed on plant foliage, causing shothole damage, and the affected plants are rarely salable. We studied the exogenous application of double-standard RNA (dsRNA) on the adult S. frontalis by targeting three vATPase subunit genes (A, D, and E). To evaluate RNAi efficacy, we measured adult feeding damage, survival, and gene expression levels using quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR).Six concentrations-10, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 µg/cm² of dsRNA were applied to panicled hydrangea leaves. The dsRNA was designed to inhibit the expression of three vATPase genes, A, D, and E subunits, and assessed how different amounts of cognate dsRNA affect the silencing of these genes. Adult S. frontalis feeding damage was significantly reduced with dsvATPase-A, -D, and -E at 3 d post-exposure. Up to 50% reduction in feeding damage was observed at 70 µg per cm 2 . The survival of adult S. frontalis was not reduced after ingestion of dsvATPase-A, -D, and -E treatment. When the pre-exposed adult S. frontalis to dsvATPase-A, -D, and -E was transferred to nontreated foliage for 1 d, a significant reduction in feeding damage was observed across different tested concentrations of dsvATPase-A, -D, and -E. A dose-response in the expression of dsRNA was observed in S. frontalis adults exposed to dsvATPase-A, -D, and -E treated foliage after 4 d. The results suggest that these three RNAi products can potentially manage S. frontalis in ornamental nurseries.
Keywords: VATPase, redheaded flea beetle, DsRNA delivery, Gene Silencing, RNAi
Received: 22 Apr 2025; Accepted: 27 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Govindaraju, Vavilapalli and Joseph. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Shimat Joseph, University of Georgia, Griffin Campus, Griffin, United States
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