The use of oligonucleotide insecticides for the control of mixed populations of insect pests of Diaspididae family

Diaspididae are one of the most serious small herbivorous insects with piercing–sucking mouth parts and are major economic pests as they attack and destroy perennial ornamentals and food crops. Our previous work showed that green oligonucleotide insecticides (olinscides) are highly effective against scale insects. Moreover, olinscides possess affordability, selectivity in action, fast biodegradability, and a low carbon footprint. Insect pest populations undergo microevolution and olinscides should and are able to take into account the problem of insecticide resistance. Using sequencing results, it was found that in the mixed populations of insect pests Dynaspidiotus britannicus Newstead and Aonidia lauri Bouche, predominates the population of A. lauri. Individuals of A. lauri comprised for 80 % of individuals with the sequence 5′-ATCGTTGGCAT-3′ in the 28S rRNA site, and 20 % of the population comprised D. britannicus individuals with the sequence 5′- ATCGTCGGTAT-3′. We created olinscides Diasp80-11 (5′-ATGCCAACGAT-3′) and Diasp20-11 (5′- ATACCGACGAT-3′) with perfect complementarity to each of the sequences. Mortality of insects on the 14th day comprised 98.19 ± 3.12 % in Diasp80-11 group, 64.66 ± 0.67 % in Diasp20-11 group, and 3.77 ± 0.94 % in the control group.

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