RNAi-mediated plant protection against aphids.

Aphids (Aphididae) are major agricultural pests that cause significant yield losses of crop plants each year by inflicting damage both through the direct effects of feeding and by vectoring harmful plant viruses. Expression of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) directed against suitable insect target genes in transgenic plants has been shown to give protection against pests through plant-mediated RNA interference (RNAi). Thus, as a potential alternative and effective strategy for insect pest management in agricultural practice, plant-mediated RNAi for aphid control has received close attention in recent years. In this review, the mechanism of RNAi in insects and the so far explored effective RNAi target genes in aphids, their potential applications in the development of transgenic plants for aphid control and the major challenges in this regard are reviewed, and the future prospects of using plant-mediated RNAi for aphid control are discussed. This review is intended to be a helpful insight into the generation of aphid-resistant plants through plant-mediated RNAi strategy. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry.

[Study on a bacterial strain Bt8 for biocontrol against citrus bacterial canker].

Citrus bacterial canker is an important disease of Citrus species in China. The disease severely occurs especially in the coastal area. Integrated control system has been used for the control of the disease, in which chemotherapy plays an important role at present. The chemotherapy-dominant control system brought many problems to the environment, such as chemical residua in the products and induction of resistance to fungicide(s) by the pathogen. To solve these problems, an intensive study on biocontrol of citrus bacterial canker is needed. Isolations and characterizations of biocontrol agents are the basis for biocontrol of the disease. A bacterial strain Bt8 with strong inhibiting ability against Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri (Hasse) Vauterin, was isolated from citrus orchard soil in Nanning, China. The isolated bacterial strain was identified and characterized as Acinetobacter baumannii Bouvet et Grimont on the base of its morphology and 16S rDNA sequence analysis as well as physiological and biochemical characters. The inhibiting activity of the bacterium suspension against the pathogen was significantly influenced by environmental factors, such as temperatures, pHs and media. At temperatures of 18 degrees C to 33 degrees C, both the inhibiting activity of the bacterium suspension and the biomass of the bacterium increased with the increases of temperatures, suggesting that the influence of temperature on inhibiting activity of the bacterium suspension was in dependence on the bacterial biomass. In NA liquid medium of pH 10, the bacterium suspension showed the highest inhibiting activity against Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. citri, which was not in dependence on biomass of the bacterium. The bacterium suspension provided 55.2% inhibition against bacterial canker under greenhouse conditions. The results showed that Acinetobacter baumannii has potential as biocontrol agent against bacterial canker disease. Acinetobacter baumannii was reported as the pathogens infecting human and animals. The present study enriched the understanding on biological diversity in Acinetobacter baumannii to sciences. This is the first report on the isolation of Acinetobacter baumannii with strong inhibiting ability against plant pathogen.