Silencing arginine kinase/integrin β1 subunit by transgenic plant expressing dsRNA inhibits the development and survival of Plutella xylostella

Background Plutella xylostella is a devastating agricultural insect pest of cruciferous plants, including crops. Plant‐mediated RNA interference (RNAi) is currently being developed for plant protection. In this study, we investigated the response of P. xylostella exposed to transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants that expressed double‐stranded RNA (dsRNA) targeting P. xylostella genes of arginine kinase (PxAK) and integrin β1 subunit (Pxβ). RESULTS Transgenic plants producing dsRNAs of the 384‐bp fragment of PxAK (dsAK plants), the 497‐bp fragment of Pxβ (dsβ plants), and the 881 bp of the combination of both genes (dsAK‐β plants) were generated and verified. Insect bioassay with these transgenic plants showed that the development of P. xylostella was affected, causing longer developmental time, and lower pupal weight and pupation rate. P. xylostella mortality rates were 25.0% when exposed to dsAK plants, 22.5% with dsβ plants, and 30.0% with dsAK‐β plants, which were all higher than 7.5% for the wild‐type plant. PxAK and Pxβ in P. xylostella were suppressed by 26.6–79.7% at the transcription level by the transgenic plants. CONCLUSION These results suggest that plant‐mediated RNAi targeting single gene or both PxAK and Pxβ may have the potential to control P. xylostella. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry The present work suggests that plant‐mediated RNAi targeting either or both arginine kinase and integrin β1 subunit genes can have the potential to control pest Plutella xylostella.