RNAi for Western Corn Rootworm Management: Lessons Learned, Challenges, and Future Directions

• Published in: Insects (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 13; no. 1; p. 57
• Main Authors: Darlington, Molly, Reinders, Jordan D, Sethi, Amit, Lu, Albert L, Ramaseshadri, Partha, Fischer, Joshua R, Boeckman, Chad J, Petrick, Jay S, Roper, Jason M, Narva, Kenneth E, Vélez, Ana M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05-01-2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Agricultural practices; Belts; Corn belt; Crop rotation; Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; Double-stranded RNA; Ecological risk assessment; Economic importance; Environmental protection; Gene expression; Genes; Genomes; insect resistance management; Insecticide resistance; Insecticides; Insects; Interference; Knowledge acquisition; Management tools; MicroRNAs; Mode of action; Mortality; Nutrient loss; Nutrient uptake; Pest control; Pest resistance; Pests; Physiology; plant-incorporated protectant; Proteins; pyramid strategy; Review; Reviews; Ribonucleic acid; Risk assessment; RNA; RNA-mediated interference; RNAi; Tactics; Transgenic plants; Vegetables; western corn rootworm; Zea mays; United States > US; Colorado; western corn rootworm; Diabrotica virgifera virgifera; RNAi; plant-incorporated protectant; insect resistance management; pyramid strategy
• ISSN: 2075-4450; 2075-4450
• DOI: 10.3390/insects13010057

The western corn rootworm (WCR),
LeConte, is considered one of the most economically important pests of maize (
L.) in the United States (U.S.) Corn Belt with costs of management and yield losses exceeding USD ~1-2 billion annually. WCR management has proven challenging given the ability of this insect to evolve resistance to multiple management strategies including synthetic insecticides, cultural practices, and plant-incorporated protectants, generating a constant need to develop new management tools. One of the most recent developments is maize expressing double-stranded hairpin RNA structures targeting housekeeping genes, which triggers an RNA interference (RNAi) response and eventually leads to insect death. Following the first description of
RNAi in 2007, traits targeting multiple genes have been explored. In June 2017, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved the first
RNAi product against insects for commercial use. This product expresses a dsRNA targeting the WCR
gene in combination with
proteins (Cry3Bb1 and Cry34Ab1/Cry35Ab1) to improve trait durability and will be introduced for commercial use in 2022.