Silencing of Impairs Growth and Development in (Hemiptera: Delphacidae).

Glutamine: fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase (GFAT), the fourth enzyme in the chitin synthesis pathway, exerts wide-ranging effects on the growth and development of organisms. However, the role of in remains unknown. In this study, the functional significance of the gene of was analyzed using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and RNA interference (RNAi) analyses. The complementary DNA sequence of was 3162 bp in length and contained a 2067 bp open reading frame encoding 688 amino acid residues. Structural domain analysis indicated that the GFAT protein consisted of one glutamine aminotransferase class 2 domain and two sugar isomerase domains. Expression profile analysis revealed that was expressed throughout the egg, nymph, and adult phases and was strongly expressed on the first day of each nymph stage and in the integuments of five tissues. RNAi results revealed that gene silencing significantly inhibited the mRNA expression of the target gene and resulted in severe mortality among . In summary, these findings demonstrate that plays a critical role in the development of . Moreover, these results may aid in the development of methods to control the spread of .