Abstract：RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technique for functional genomics research in insects. Feeding dsRNA via an artificial diet has been successfully applied in many insects, including Hemipteran insects. However, transgenic plants producing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) directed against insect genes have been only reported for Lepidopteran and Coleopteran insects. In this study, we synthesized the dsRNAs of two genes (tubulin alpha-1 chain-ds1 and tubulin-specific chaperone c-ds10) of Nilaparvata lugens. When nymphs were fed on an artificial diet including the dsRNA, expression levels of the targeted genes were reduced; lethal phenotypic effects after dsRNA feeding were observed simultaneously. The reduction of target genes in N.lugens was observed only in a few strains after the nymphs were fed on rice(Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cv. Zhonghua 11) plant materials expressing N.lugens homologous dsRNAs. In this study, the generated dsRNA transgenic rice haven't shown lethal phenotypic effect, but when insects were fed on artificial diet with dsRNAs, the target genes transcript levels were suppressed and it shown lethal phenotypic effect. This result indicated potential of practicability on cultivating transgenic rice resisting to brown planthopper depends on techinical improvement, so it provides the basis for the cultivation of Brown planthopper-resistant transgenic rice.
