New Horizons in Insect Science Towards Sustainable Pest Management

199

Role of RNA Interference

in Pest Management

R. Asokan, Prakash M. Navale, N. K. Krishna Kumar

and M. Manamohan

A. K. Chakravarthy (ed.), New Horizons in Insect Science: Towards Sustainable Pest Management,
DOI 10.1007/978-81-322-2089-3_19, © Springer India 2015

R. Asokan () · P. M. Navale · M. Manamohan
Division of Biotechnology, Indian Institute
of Horticultural Research, Hessaraghatta Lake (PO),
Bangalore 560089, India
e-mail: [email protected]

N. K. Kumar
ICAR, New Delhi 110012, India

Abstract

The recent demonstration of the potential of RNAi in pest management

has opened a new avenue which will fuel a futuristic approach where ap-

plication of chemical insecticides will no longer be needed. Identification

of suitable target genes and delivery method will usher a new ecofriendly

approach that is safer to nontarget organisms including humans. In addi-

tion to its role in field level pest management RNAi is also promising in

other investigations such as validation of gene functions, control of insect

vector transmitted plant viruses, and management of insecticide resistance.

Keywords

Genes · Gene silencing · Pest management · RNA interference

tivation, increasing the productivity is the only

plausible and viable option to meet the demand.

It has been estimated that India’s population will

become roughly 2,000,000,000 by 2040 and we

have to go a long way from the current produc-

tion level of 800 million t of major crops. Among

the various biotic factors, insect pests limit the

crop productivity to a larger extent and the agro-

chemical policy group has reported that the crop

loss during the year 2007 was ` 1.40 lakh crores

due to pests. Management of insect pests by in-

secticides account for 61 % of the total pesticides

usage and has already resulted in many control

failures due to accelerated development of resis-

tance. Further it has also resulted in contamina-

tion of soil, water, and affected nontarget pests

including human beings.

Introduction

Meeting the food security for billions of people is
a Herculean task faced by the Indian agriculture
today and the population is slated to increase by
leaps and bounds in the ensuing years. This calls
for more land to be brought under cultivation and
also increasing productivity of crops. While there
is no scope to further increase the area under cul-