College of Plant Protection, Shenyang Agricultural University, Shenyang, 110866, Liaoning, China.
Key Laboratory of Economical and Applied Entomology of Liaoning Province, Shenyang, 110866, Liaoning, China.
Commun Biol. 2024 Oct 4;7(1):1256. doi: 10.1038/s42003-024-06961-5.
Genetic biocontrol technologies present promising and eco-friendly strategies for the management of pest and insect-transmitted diseases. Although considerable advancements achieve in gene drive applications targeting mosquitoes, endeavors to combat agricultural pests have been somewhat restricted. Here, we identify that the testis-specific serine/threonine kinases (TSSKs) family is uniquely expressed in the testes of Cydia pomonella, a prominent global invasive species. We further generated male moths with disrupted the expression of TSSKs and those with TSSKs disrupted using RNA interference and CRISPR/Cas9 genetic editing techniques, resulting in significant disruptions in spermiogenesis, decreased sperm motility, and hindered development of eggs. Further explorations into the underlying post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms reveales the involvement of lnc117962 as a competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) for miR-3960, thereby regulating TSSKs. Notably, orchard trials demonstrates that the release of male strains can effectively suppress population growth. Our findings indicate that targeting TSSKs could serve as a feasible avenue for managing C. pomonella populations, offering significant insights and potential strategies for controlling invasive pests through genetic sterile insect technique (gSIT) technology.
遗传生物防治技术为防治病虫害和昆虫传播疾病提供了有前途和环保的策略。尽管在针对蚊子的基因驱动应用方面取得了相当大的进展，但防治农业害虫的努力却受到了一定的限制。在这里，我们发现睾丸特异性丝氨酸/苏氨酸激酶（TSSKs）家族在苹果蠹蛾的睾丸中特异性表达，苹果蠹蛾是一种全球性的入侵物种。我们进一步生成了 TSSKs 表达被破坏的雄性飞蛾，以及使用 RNA 干扰和 CRISPR/Cas9 基因编辑技术破坏 TSSKs 的雄性飞蛾，导致精子发生严重破坏、精子活力降低和卵发育受阻。进一步探讨潜在的转录后调控机制表明，lnc117962 作为 miR-3960 的竞争性内源性 RNA (ceRNA) 参与调控 TSSKs。值得注意的是，果园试验表明，释放雄性品系可有效抑制种群增长。我们的研究结果表明，靶向 TSSKs 可能是管理苹果蠹蛾种群的可行途径，为通过遗传不育昆虫技术（gSIT）技术控制入侵害虫提供了重要的见解和潜在的策略。
