Abstract
Xiphinema index is an important plant parasitic nematode that induces direct damages and specifically transmits the Grapevine fanleaf virus, which is particularly harmful for grapevines. Genomic resources of this nematode species are still limited and no functional gene validation technology is available. RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technology to study gene function and here we describe the application of RNAi on several genes in X. index. Soaking the nematodes for 48 h in a suspension containing specific small interfering RNAs resulted in a partial inhibition of the accumulation of some targeted mRNA. However, low reproducible silencing efficiency was observed which could arise from X. index silencing pathway deficiencies. Indeed, essential accustomed proteins for these pathways were not found in the X. index proteome predicted from transcriptomic data. The most reproducible silencing effect was obtained when targeting the piccolo gene potentially involved in endo-exocytosis of synaptic molecules. This represents the first report of gene silencing in a nematode belonging to the Longidoridae family.
Highlights
Xiphinema index is an ectoparasite soil-borne nematode belonging to the Longidoridae family
L4 or adult stages of X. index were incubated in an aqueous solution containing a fluorescent small interfering RNA (siRNA) labeled with Cyanine 3 (Cy3) to evaluate both siRNA ingestion and nematode viability in an artificial medium
We observed that soaking nematodes with siRNA targeting specific genes resulted in expression inhibition with some limitations: the reduction of expression could not be observed for all the candidate genes
Summary
Xiphinema index is an ectoparasite soil-borne nematode belonging to the Longidoridae family. It has been mentioned as 1 of the 10 most economically important plant-parasitic nematodes [1]. This nematode of about 3 mm in length migrates from plant to plant through the soil. It infects roots of grapevine and fig, two economically important crops [2,3]. While feeding on an infected grapevine, X. index acquires GFLV particles that are retained externally along the alimentary tract at specific sites along the ondotophore, esophagus, and esophageal bulb [11]. Edges of a depression on the surface of the GFLV capsid are likely the GFLV particles binding site to still unknown receptors in X. index
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