RNA interference in the study of gene functions in aphids and other hemipterans and the fight against their harmful representatives

Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi) is an important mechanism that protects cells of eukaryotic organisms from foreign genetic information and regulates physiological processes. Discovery of RNAi and development of the methods for targeted suppression of the expression of individual genes have opened up wide opportunities for elucidating gene functions and solving many problems in biology, medicine, and plant protection. This approach can contribute to the development of new effective, highly specific, and environmentally safe ways to control harmful insects. Several examples of the practical use of RNAi for combating chewing pests have been already reported. Due to their biology, phloem-feeding, as well as the ways of delivering genetic constructs into the body, RNAi in insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts – aphids, bugs, and other hemipterans – deserves separate consideration. This review discusses the criteria for selecting target genes and the issues of their functional activity solved by RNAi, methods for delivering double-stranded and small RNAs to organisms of various Hemiptera, the non-target effects of RNAi and the ways to prevent them, as well as possible practical outcomes of using this approach to control hemipteran pests of agricultural plants and vectors of dangerous human and animal diseases.