RNA interference in Lepidoptera: an overview of successful and unsuccessful studies and implicatons for experimantal design

TY - JOUR

T1 - RNA interference in Lepidoptera

T2 - an overview of successful and unsuccessful studies and implicatons for experimantal design

AU - Terenius, Ole

AU - Papanicolaou, Alexie

AU - Garbutt, Jennie S.

AU - Albrechtsen, Merete Tryde

AU - Grimmelikhuijzen, Cornelis

AU - Hauser, Frank

AU - Lundmark, Krister Ove Magnus

PY - 2011/2

Y1 - 2011/2

N2 - Gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized the study of gene function, particularly in non-model insects. However, in Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) RNAi has many times proven to be difficult to achieve. Most of the negative results have been anecdotal and the positive experiments have not been collected in such a way that they are possible to analyze. In this review, we have collected detailed data from more than 150 experiments including all to date published and many unpublished experiments. Despite a large variation in the data, trends that are found are that RNAi is particularly successful in the family Saturniidae and in genes involved in immunity. On the contrary, gene expression in epidermal tissues seems to be most difficult to silence. In addition, gene silencing by feeding dsRNA requires high concentrations for success. Possible causes for the variability of success in RNAi experiments in Lepidoptera are discussed. The review also points to a need to further investigate the mechanism of RNAi in lepidopteran insects and its possible connection to the innate immune response. Our general understanding of RNAi in Lepidoptera will be further aided in the future as our public database at http://insectacentral.org/RNAi will continue to gather information on RNAi experiments.

AB - Gene silencing through RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized the study of gene function, particularly in non-model insects. However, in Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) RNAi has many times proven to be difficult to achieve. Most of the negative results have been anecdotal and the positive experiments have not been collected in such a way that they are possible to analyze. In this review, we have collected detailed data from more than 150 experiments including all to date published and many unpublished experiments. Despite a large variation in the data, trends that are found are that RNAi is particularly successful in the family Saturniidae and in genes involved in immunity. On the contrary, gene expression in epidermal tissues seems to be most difficult to silence. In addition, gene silencing by feeding dsRNA requires high concentrations for success. Possible causes for the variability of success in RNAi experiments in Lepidoptera are discussed. The review also points to a need to further investigate the mechanism of RNAi in lepidopteran insects and its possible connection to the innate immune response. Our general understanding of RNAi in Lepidoptera will be further aided in the future as our public database at http://insectacentral.org/RNAi will continue to gather information on RNAi experiments.

U2 - 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2010.11.006

DO - 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2010.11.006

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0022-1910

VL - 57

SP - 231

EP - 245

JO - Journal of Insect Physiology

JF - Journal of Insect Physiology

IS - 2

ER -