Metabolism of plant derived small RNAs in Spider Mites

蜘蛛是全球头号抗药性最强的农作物害虫。它的捕食者相对较少，很难控制。它的基因组序列最近已经确定，比它的节肢动物近亲要小得多，但包含了更多参与RNA干扰(RNAi)的基因，RNAi是一种使用RNA分子打开和关闭基因的途径。该项目将研究螨类在以植物为食时摄取小RNA时这些基因是如何工作的，以及这个系统是否可以用来控制动物的基因表达。与该项目相关的研究活动将提供生物化学、遗传学和计算生物学方面的研究生和本科生培训。它将在很大程度上依赖于本科生研究人员的参与，无论是在课堂上还是在实验室里。该项目的方法包括探索自然产生的植物RNA在蜘蛛体内积累的能力。在多种植物上培养后，进入螨细胞的植物RNA将通过高通量测序来确定其身份。下一步，针对从积累的本地植物分子中模拟出的基本螨类基因的合成RNA将被喂给螨类，并研究它们对生存和基因表达的影响。成功调节螨类基因的RNA将在生物化学和细胞培养中进行表征，以了解它们利用的机制。

Spider mites are the number one most pesticide resistant crop pest worldwide. It has relatively few predators and is difficult to control. Its genome sequence has been determined recently, and it is much smaller than in its arthropod relatives, but contains an enlarged collection of genes involved in RNA interference (RNAi), a pathway that uses RNA molecules to turn genes on and off. The project will study how these genes work when a mite ingests small RNA when feeding on plants, and whether this system can be used to control gene expression in the animal. The research activities associated with this project will provide training at the graduate and undergraduate level in biochemistry, genetics, and computational biology. It will rely heavily on the involvement of undergraduate researchers, both in the classroom and the laboratory.The approach of the project involves exploring the ability of naturally occurring plant RNAs to accumulate in spider mites. After being raised on a variety of plants, the identity of plant RNAs entering mite cells will be determined with high throughput sequencing. Next, synthetic RNAs targeted to essential mite genes modeled from accumulating native plant molecules will be fed to mites and their effects on survival and gene expression investigated. RNAs that successfully modulate genes in mites will be characterized biochemically and in cell culture to understand the mechanism they exploit.