Sprayable RNAi for silencing of important genes to manage red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae).

The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Oliver, 1970) (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae) is the most devastating insect-pest of palm trees worldwide. Synthetic insecticides are the most preferred tool for the management of RPW. Alternatively, RNA interference (RNAi) mediated silencing of crucial genes provides reasonable control of insect pests. Recently, we have targeted four important genes; ecdysone receptor (EcR), serine carboxypeptidase (SCP), actin and chitin-binding peritrophin (CBP) in the 3^rd and 5^th instar larvae RPW. The results from 20 days trial showed that the survival rate of 3^rd instar larvae fed on SCP and actin dsRNAs exhibited the lowest survival (12–68%). While, in the 5^th instar larvae, the lowest survival rate (24%) was recorded for SCP after 20 days of incubation. Similarly, the weight of the 3^rd and 5^th instar larvae treated with SCP and actin was significantly reduced to 2.30–2.36 g and 4.64–4.78 g after 6 days of dsRNA exposure. The larval duration was also decreased significantly in the larvae treated with all the dsRNA treatments. The qRT-PCR results confirmed a significant suppression of the targeted genes as 90–97% and 85–93% in the 3^rd and 5^th instar larvae, respectively. The results suggest that the SCP and the actin genes can be promising targets to mediate RNAi-based control of RPW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]