Browsing by Subject "Insect"

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    An Environmentally-Friendly RNAi Yeast-Attractive Targeted Sugar Bait Turns off the Drosophila suzukii Rbfox1 Gene
    (MDPI, 2025-05-01) Mysore, Keshava; Graham, Jackson; Nelaturi, Saisuhas; Njoroge, Teresia M.; Hamid-Adiamoh, Majidah; Stewart, Akilah T. M.; Sun, Longhua; Duman-Scheel, Molly; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    Spotted wing drosophila (SWD), Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae), are invasive vinegar flies of East Asian origin that are an increasingly global threat to the small fruit industry. It is essential that new classes of eco-friendly insecticides and cost-effective strategies for SWD control are developed. Here, we describe the preparation of a strain of RNA interference (RNAi) Saccharomyces cerevisiae expressing shRNA that specifically targets the SWD RNA-binding Fox protein 1 (Rbfox1) gene. The yeast effectively silences the SWD Rbfox1 gene, resulting in significant loss of fly neural activity. Laboratory trials demonstrated that the RNAi yeast can be mixed with soda, which functions as SWD attractive targeted sugar bait (ATSB) that can be delivered in a soda bottle feeder. The ATSB, mixed with yeast that was heat-killed prior to suspension in the ATSB, resulted in 92 ± 1% mortality of SWD flies that consumed it, yet had no impact on non-target dipterans. Rbfox.687 yeast delivered in ATSB feeders may one day be a useful component of integrated SWD control programs.
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    Preparation and Use of a Yeast shRNA Delivery System for Gene Silencing in Mosquito Larvae
    (Humana Press, 2019) Mysore, Keshava; Hapairai, Limb K.; Wei, Na; Realey, Jacob S.; Scheel, Nicholas D.; Severson, David W.; Duman-Scheel, Molly; Medical and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
    The mosquito genome projects facilitated research in new facets of mosquito biology, including functional genetic studies in the dengue and Zika virus vector Aedes aegypti and the primary African malaria vector Anopheles gambiae. RNA interference (RNAi) has facilitated gene silencing experiments in both of these disease vector mosquito species and could one day be applied as a new method of vector control. Here, we describe a procedure for the genetic engineering of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (baker’s yeast) that express short hairpin RNA (shRNA) corresponding to mosquito target genes of interest. Following cultivation, which facilitates inexpensive propagation of shRNA, the yeast is inactivated and prepared in a ready-to-use dry tablet formulation that is fed to mosquito larvae. Ingestion of the yeast tablets results in effective larval target gene silencing. This technically straightforward and affordable technique may be applicable to a wide variety of mosquito species and potentially to other arthropods that feed on yeast.