Transgenic Cotton Plants Expressing the HaHR3 Gene Conferred Enhanced Resistance to Helicoverpa armigera and Improved Cotton Yield.

RNA interference (RNAi) has been developed as an efficient technology. RNAi insect-resistant transgenic plants expressing double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) that is ingested into insects to silence target genes can affect the viability of these pests or even lead to their death. , a molt-regulating transcription factor gene, was previously selected as a target expressed in bacteria and tobacco plants to control by RNAi technology. In this work, we selected the dsRNA- fragment to silence in cotton bollworm for plant mediated-RNAi research. A total of 19 transgenic cotton lines expressing were successfully cultivated, and seven generated lines were used to perform feeding bioassays. Transgenic cotton plants expressing ds were shown to induce high larval mortality and deformities of pupation and adult eclosion when used to feed the newly hatched larvae, and 3rd and 5th instar larvae of . Moreover, transgenic cotton also demonstrated an improved cotton yield when compared with controls.