Trans-kingdom expression of an insect endogenous microRNA in rice enhances resistance to striped stem borer Chilo...

The striped stem borer (SSB), Chilo suppressalis Walker, is a major pest of rice worldwide. Breeding of transgenic rice expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins is a powerful strategy to control SSB. However, pests may evolve certain resistance to Bt toxins in transgenic plants. Hence, new controlling strategies must be continuously developed.

We successfully generated SSB-resistant rice (csu-53) expressing the artificial microRNA (amiRNA) of SSB endogenous miRNA (csu-novel-miR53) through the RNAi-based technology. Feeding assays demonstrated that csu-53 rice inhibited larval growth, delayed pupation time, and reduced pupal weight and eclosion rate of SSB larva. In a 10-day feeding experiment, the miRNA mimic of csu-novel-miR53 also suppressed larval growth and more importantly increased larval mortality. Transcriptome analysis identified 28 differentially expressed unigenes (DEGs) in the midgut between SSB larvae fed on csu-53 rice and the wild type. One DEG (DN90065_c0_g12) validated by qRT-PCR had a predicted target site of csu-novel-miR53. In addition, in vitro double-stranded RNA synthesis and further feeding assay proved that DN90065_c0_g12 is most likely the target of csu-novel-miR53.

amiRNA-mediated strategy can be applied to the development of insect-resistant crops, and the novel amiRNA csu-novel-miR53 of SSB has important application potential in developing SSB resistant rice. © 2021 Society of Chemical Industry.