昆虫的RNA干扰

RNA干扰(RNAi)是一种强有力的分子生物学技术, 在昆虫研究中得到了较多的应用。目前, RNAi技术主要应用于昆虫功能基因和功能基因组研究, 已在多个目的19种昆虫上实现了RNAi。在昆虫上实现RNAi的方法主要有注射、浸泡、喂食、转基因和病毒介导等方法, 这些方法各有特点, 其中喂食法因其简单而最有应用前景。昆虫RNAi的系统性较为复杂, 只有部分昆虫具有RNAi的系统性。昆虫中RNAi信号传导的基因可能是sid-1, 但昆虫RNAi的系统性机理还不是很清楚。转基因植物产生的dsRNA实现了对作物的保护, 证实了RNAi技术可用于害虫控制, 为害虫控制开辟了新领域。昆虫的RNAi研究处在起步阶段, 研究昆虫RNAi的机理, 特别是RNAi在昆虫体内的系统性扩散机理, 改进实现RNAi的方法, 提高RNAi技术在昆虫研究中的应用, 有利于昆虫基因功能鉴定和害虫控制, 促进昆虫学科的发展。

RNA interference in insects

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful molecular technique, and has been widely applied to researches on insects. The technique is largely employed to study functional genes and functional genomics, and so far has been applied in 19 species of several insect orders. There are several ways to obtain RNAi in insects, such as injection, soaking, feeding, developing transgenic organisms and virus mediation, of which feeding might be most applicable due to its simplicity in practice. Systemic RNAi has been observed only in some insects, and the RNAi signals were first considered to be transferred by sid-1 gene in insects, but the mechanism has not been fully elucidated. Transgenic plants producing dsRNA have showed a significant protection of plants from pest damaging, suggesting that the RNAi technique can be applied as a new strategy for improving pest management. The study on RNAi in insects is currently in the very beginning phase, and further work needs to be done to address the mechanism of RNAi in insects, especially the mechanism of systemic RNAi. The approaches to RNAi are expected to be improved in favor of application of RNAi technique to the function identification of insect genes and the practical management of insect pests, aiming at boosting the development of entomology.