LAUSR

BACKGROUND The cabbage beetle Colaphellus bowringi is a highly destructive cruciferous vegetable pest in Asia. This beetle is predominantly controlled by synthetic chemical pesticides, which leave pesticide residues on food and constitute a major hidden danger to human health. Based on preliminary research, we hypothesized that the coat protein II (COPII) complex, a primary coated vesicle that exports cargo molecules from the endoplasmic reticulum, is a promising novel target for the control of C. bowringi. RESULTS This study investigated whether disrupting COPII using RNA interference (RNAi) affects the growth and development of C. bowringi adults. The results showed that five COPII assembly genes, Sar1, Sec23, Sec24, Sec13, and Sec31, were uniformly expressed in multiple tissues of adult female C. bowringi. Injecting dsRNA against each gene induced a high RNAi efficiency by approximately 55-99%, and considerably inhibited yolk deposition and ovarian growth. Moreover, knockdown of Sar1, Sec23 and Sec24 suppressed feeding and increased mortality to 26.67%, 46.67%, and 42.22%, respectively. This was partially due to the downregulation of insulin/mTOR-associated nutritional pathways. The results indicate that silencing any of the five genes responsible for COPII complex assembly represses Juvenile hormone and ecdysone signaling pathways, suggesting that vesicle transport plays a vital role in the endocrine regulation of C. bowringi females. CONCLUSION This study suggests that the COPII complex could be a promising RNAi target for the management of C. bowringi, which would reduce our dependence on chemical pesticides for pest control. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.