Practical Use of RNA Interference: Oral Delivery of Double-stranded RNA in Liposome Carriers for Cockroaches

Summary

This manuscript demonstrates the depletion of gene expression in the midgut of the German cockroach through oral ingestion of double-stranded RNA encapsulated in liposomes.

Abstract

RNA interference (RNAi) has been widely applied for uncovering the biological functions of numerous genes, and has been envisaged as a pest control tool operating by disruption of essential gene expression. Although different methods, such as injection, feeding, and soaking, have been reported for successful delivery of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), the efficiency of RNAi through oral delivery of dsRNA is highly variable among different insect groups. The German cockroach, Blattella germanica, is highly sensitive to the injection of dsRNA, as shown by many studies published previously. The present study describes a method to demonstrate that the dsRNA encapsulated with liposome carriers is sufficient to retard the degradation of dsRNA by midgut juice. Notably, the continuous feeding of dsRNA encapsulated by liposomes significantly reduces the tubulin expression in the midgut, and led to the death of cockroaches. In conclusion, the formulation and utilization of dsRNA lipoplexes, which protect dsRNA against nucleases, could be a practical use of RNAi for insect pest control in the future.

Introduction

RNAi has been demonstrated as an effective method to knockdown gene expression through a mechanism of a post-transcriptional silencing pathway triggered by dsRNA molecules in many eukaryotes¹. Over the past decade of study, RNAi has become a useful tool to study the functions of genes from development to behavior by depleting the expression of specific genes via injection and/or feeding of dsRNA in various taxa of insects^2,3. Due to the specificity and robustness of the depleting effect, the application of RNAi is currently being considered as a potential strategy for pest control manag....

Protocol

1. Synthesis and Preparation of dsRNA

1. Identify the dsRNA target sites in the 3' untranslated region of the target genes. The dsTub is used for targeting the α-tubulin (tub) gene (GenBank accession number: KX228233), and dsEGFP as a negative dsRNA control is designed from the sequence of enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP; GenBank accession number: LC311024).
2. Perform standard PCR amplification to synthesize the dsRNA templates with gene-specific primers containing the T7 promoter sequence (5'-TAATACGACTCACTATAGGG-3'). The PCR amplification conditions and primer information used are those reported by Lin et al. (201....

Results

A simplified scheme of the protocol for the oral delivery of dsRNA is presented in Figure 1, where the key steps for preparation of dsRNA lipoplexes are shown.

In order to investigate the protection given by liposome carriers upon dsRNA degradation in the midgut juice of B. germanica, an ex vivo assay where dsTub lipoplexes were incubated with midgut juice was conducted, and the in.......

Discussion

This protocol presents a method for effective RNAi through oral delivery of dsRNA lipoplexes, involving protection against ribonuclease digestion in the midgut juice of the German cockroach. As shown in other studies in various insect species, the poor RNAi effect through oral delivery of dsRNA is mostly accounted for by the degradation of dsRNA^8,9,10. This protocol produces liposomes that serve as protective vehicles in oral de.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
GenJe Plus DNA in vitro Transfection reagent	SignaGen	SL100499	for lipoplexes preparation
Blend Taq plus	TOYOBO	BTQ-201	for PCR
Fast SYBR Green Master Mix	ABI	4385612	for qPCR
FirstChoice RLM-RACE Kit	Invitrogen	AM1700	for 3' UTR identification
MEGAscript T7 Transcription Kit	Invitrogen	AMB13345	for dsRNA synthesis
TURBO DNase	Invitrogen	AM2239	remove DNA template from dsRNA
TRIzol	Invitrogen	15596018	for dsRNA or total RNA extraction
RQ1 RNase-Free Dnase	Promega	M6101	remove DNA template from total RNA
chloroform	Sigma-Aldrich	C2432	for dsRNA or total RNA extraction
2-Propanol	Sigma-Aldrich	I9516	for dsRNA or total RNA extraction
ethanol	Sigma-Aldrich	24102	for dsRNA or total RNA extraction
Diethyl pyrocarbonate, DEPC	Sigma-Aldrich	D5758	for RNase free water preparation
glucose solution	Sigma-Aldrich	G3285	for lipoplexes preparation
Sodium chloride, NaCl	Sigma-Aldrich	S7653	insect saline buffer formula
Potassium chloride, KCl	Sigma-Aldrich	P9333	insect saline buffer formula
Calcium chloride, CaCl2	Sigma-Aldrich	C1016	insect saline buffer formula
Magnesium chloride hexahydrate, MgCl2.6H2O	Sigma-Aldrich	M2670	insect saline buffer formula
EGTA	Sigma-Aldrich	E3889	enzyme inhibitor
dissecting scissor	F.S.T.		cockroach dissection
fine tweezers	F.S.T.		cockroach dissection
flexible tweezer	F.S.T.		cockroach holding
pipetman	RAININ	P10	sample preparation
microcentrifuge tube	Axygen	MCT175C, PCR02C	sample preparation
pipette tip	Axygen		sample preparation
vortexter	Digisystem	vm1000	sample preparation
Minispin centrifuge	The Gruffin Group	GMC 206	for liquid spin down
Centrifuge	ALC	PK121R	sample preparation
pH meter	JENCO	6071	for pH adjust
micro-volume spectrophotometer	Quawell	Q3000	nucleic acid quantitative
PCR Thermal cycler	ABI	2720	for template PCR or  dsRNA synthesis incubation
quantitative real-time PCR	ABI	StepOne plus	gene expression quantitative
Centrifugal Vacuum Concentrators	eppendorf	5301	for dsRNA or total RNA extraction
Multipette	eppendorf	xstream	for real-time PCR sample loading
Agarose I	amresco	0710	for nucleic acid electrophoresis
tub gene specfifc forward preimer	tri-I biotech		GGG ACA AGC CGG AGT GCA GA
tub gene specfifc reverse preimer	tri-I biotech		TCC TGC TCC TGT CTC GCT GA
dsTub template forward primer	tri-I biotech		TAA TAC GAC TCA CTA TAG GGA CAA GCC GGA GTG CAG
dsTub template reverse primer	tri-I biotech		TAA TAC GAC TCA CTA TAG GGT CCT GCT CCT GTC TCG CTG
dsEGFP template forward preimer	tri-I biotech		TAA TAC GAC TCA CTA TAG GGT ATG GTG AGC AAG GGC GAG GAG
dsEGFP template reverse preimer	tri-I biotech		TAA TAC GAC TCA CTA TAG GGT GGC GGA TCT TGA AGT TCA CC
tub qPCR forward primer	tri-I biotech		GGA CCG CAT CAG GAA ACT GGC
tub qPCR reverse preimer	tri-I biotech		CCA CAG ACA GCC TCT CCA TGA GC
ef1 qPCR forward primer	tri-I biotech		CGC TTG AGG AAA TCA AGA AGG A
ef1 qPCRreverse preimer	tri-I biotech		CCT GCA GAG GAA GAC GAA G