A salivary secretory protein from Riptortus pedestris facilitates pest infestation and soybean staygreen syndrome.

The bean bug (Riptortus pedestris), one of the most important pests of soybean, causes staygreen syndrome, delaying plant maturation and affecting pod development, resulting in severe crop yield loss. However, little is known about the underlying mechanism of this pest. In this study, we found that a salivary secretory protein, Rp614, induced cell death in nonhost Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. NbSGT1 and NbNDR1 are involved in Rp614-induced cell death. Tissue specificity analysis showed that Rp614 is mainly present in salivary glands and is highly induced during pest feeding. RNA interference experiments showed that staygreen syndrome caused by R. pedestris was significantly attenuated when Rp614 was silenced. Together, our results indicate that Rp614 plays an essential role in R. pedestris infestation and provide a promising RNA interference target for pest control.