Citrus greening is a distractive disease and causes great economic losses to citrus groves worldwide. Asian citrus Psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, is the main vector of the bacterium causal agent, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. The... more
Citrus greening is a distractive disease and causes great economic losses to citrus groves worldwide. Asian citrus Psyllid (ACP), Diaphorina citri, is the main vector of the bacterium causal agent, Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus. The management of ACP will indubitably prevent the spread of this disease. RNA interference (RNAi) is a promising technique to explore gene functions as well as control pests. In this study, silencing abnormal wing disc (awd) gene which related with the development of wings in insects was investigated. Gene expression using qRT-PCR showed that transcription of awd is development-dependent and the highest level was found in the fifth (the last) instars of nymphal stage. dsRNA-awd was applied to this instar using micro-application. Highly significant nymph mortality and wing abnormality of emerged adults were recorded. Various forms of adult wing malformation were observed. There was a positive correlation between the percentage of wing-malformed adults an...
