Co-Silencing of the Voltage-Gated Calcium Channel β Subunit and High-Voltage Activated α Subunit by dsRNA Soaking Resulted in Enhanced Defects in Locomotion, Stylet Thrusting, Chemotaxis, Protein Secretion, and Reproduction in .

The voltage-gated calcium channel (VGCC) β subunit (Caβ) protein is a kind of cytosolic auxiliary subunit that plays an important role in regulating the surface expression and gating characteristics of high-voltage-activated (HVA) calcium channels. is an important plant-parasitic nematode. In the present study, the putative Caβ subunit gene of , namely, , was subjected to molecular characterization. In situ hybridization assays showed that was expressed in all nematode tissues. Transcriptional analyses showed that was expressed during each developmental stage of , and the highest expression level was recorded in the third-stage juveniles. The crucial role of was verified by dsRNA soaking-mediated RNA interference (RNAi). Silencing of or HVA alone and co-silencing of the and HVA genes resulted in defective locomotion, stylet thrusting, chemotaxis, protein secretion and reproduction in . Co-silencing of the HVA Caα and Caβ subunits showed stronger interference effects than single-gene silencing. This study provides insights for further study of VGCCs in plant-parasitic nematodes.