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Chitin deacetylases ( CDAs) are critical enzymes required for chitin degradation, which play an important role in modifying the physical properties of insect cuticles and peritrophic matrices. A novel chitin deacetylase gene ( hccda5) was identified from Hyphantria cunea. The recombinant expressed Hc CDA5 protein, containing a chitin deacetylase domain ( CDAD), did not show chitin deacetylase activity, but instead showed a strong chitin-binding activity. Transcriptional analysis using qRT- PCR indicated that hccda5 was mainly expressed in the midgut of H. cunea larvae. Feeding H. cunea larvae with Bt ( Bacillus thuringiensis) Cry1A protein induced its downregulation. The gene of hccda5 was successfully silenced by different ds RNAs in insect cell line ( Spodoptera frugiperda line, Sf9), which provided a tool to study the function of an expressed gene in insect cell line and laid a foundation for RNAi of hccda5 in H. cunea larvae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]