Plant Protection by RNA Interference

Lifeasible is committed to using RNA interference technology to achieve plant protection and provides various services to help apply RNA interference technology in plant protection.

The environmental damage caused by agrochemicals has led to an increasing focus on developing environmentally friendly plant protection technologies. RNA interference technology is considered a promising approach. Based on RNA interference technology, plants' gene expression can be regulated for plant protection. Then, plant pathogens and pests can be controlled using host-induced gene silencing (HIGS). In addition, spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS) using exogenous RNA can also control plant pathogens and pests. We have summarized the applications of RNA interference technology in various plant protection applications (Fig. 1). And we provide services according to the different plant protection applications of RNA interference.

Fig. 1 Plant protection by RNA interference.

Our Services

We offer services to help identify and develop multiple RNA molecules for RNA interference, including dsRNA, shRNA, miRNA, and siRNA. We perform customized designs depending on the target properties.

Pathogenic fungi control by RNA interference

Fungi are the main plant diseases. Fungi have a good RNA uptake capacity and can take up long dsRNA of at least 800 nucleotides (nt). Based on this property, we mainly develop SIGS for fungal control and provide services to design dsRNA for RNA interference. We also provide RNA modification services (e.g., fluorescein-labeled modification) to help explore the uptake of RNA by plant pathogenic fungi.

Pathogenic bacteria control by RNA interference

No RNA interference mechanism has been found in bacteria. Plants can uptake RNA. We offer services to silence plant genes that result in non-interaction with pathogenic bacteria using RNA interference technology. We can provide plant transgene development to perform RNA interference.

Pest control by RNA interference

RNA interference technology provides the ideal means to specifically kill pests without residual effects. We offer services to control insects using HIGS and SIGS. The RNA interference response of insects is intra-species differential and tissue differential, and their RNA interference is also affected by extracellular nucleases. We help design to use host plants, bacteria, viruses, and yeast to express small RNAs (sRNAs) to achieve a more durable control effect of harmful insects. We also offer to design nanomaterials for the delivery of sRNAs.

Plant virus control by RNA interference

We offer services to control plant viruses using HIGS and SIGS. The majority of plant-infecting viruses have single-stranded RNA. The replication of viral RNA and the expression of capsid proteins can be interfered with RNA interference technology, thus controlling the replication of viruses in plants. We help design miRNA, dsRNA, or structured RNA (such as shRNA) to help induce efficient RNA interference.

Weed control by RNA interference

Using SIGS to control weeds is a new weed management technology. We offer the discovery of weed control targets from weed genomic and transcriptomic information and the design of sRNAs to control weeds using RNA interference. We also offer to design various sRNA delivery methods to increase the uptake of sRNAs by plants. In the design of sRNAs, we fully consider the risk of off-targeting.

Enhancing plant abiotic stress resistance by RNA interference

We provide services to help study the expression of plant miRNAs under abiotic stress environments and develop SIGR to protect plants. Under the same stress environment, miRNAs are differentially regulated in different plants, and the same plant may have tissue specificity miRNAs. We provide customized development of SIGR for enhancing plant abiotic stress resistance.

Lifeasible offers various services to support the application of RNA interference technology in plant protection, including control of plant pathogens, pests, weeds, and enhancement of plant resistance to abiotic stresses. We can effectively help our customers to realize plant protection with RNA interference technology. Please contact us to serve you.