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Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods

RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technology that offers new opportunities for pest control through silencing of genes that are essential for the survival of arthropod pests. The approach relies on sequence-specificity of applied double-stranded (ds) RNA that can be designed to have a very narro...

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Autores principales: Romeis, Jörg, Widmer, Franco
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7289159/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32582240
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00679
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author Romeis, Jörg
Widmer, Franco
author_facet Romeis, Jörg
Widmer, Franco
author_sort Romeis, Jörg
collection PubMed
description RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technology that offers new opportunities for pest control through silencing of genes that are essential for the survival of arthropod pests. The approach relies on sequence-specificity of applied double-stranded (ds) RNA that can be designed to have a very narrow spectrum of both the target gene product (RNA) as well as the target organism, and thus allowing highly targeted pest control. Successful RNAi has been reported from a number of arthropod species belonging to various orders. Pest control may be achieved by applying dsRNA as foliar sprays. One of the main concerns related to the use of dsRNA is adverse environmental effects particularly on valued non-target species. Arthropods form an important part of the biodiversity in agricultural landscapes and contribute important ecosystem services. Consequently, environmental risk assessment (ERA) for potential impacts that plant protection products may have on valued non-target arthropods is legally required prior to their placement on the market. We describe how problem formulation can be used to set the context and to develop plausible pathways on how the application of dsRNA-based products could harm valued non-target arthropod species, such as those contributing to biological pest control. The current knowledge regarding the exposure to and the hazard posed by dsRNA in spray products for non-target arthropods is reviewed and suggestions are provided on how to select the most suitable test species and to conduct laboratory-based toxicity studies that provide robust, reliable and interpretable results to support the ERA.
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spelling pubmed-72891592020-06-23 Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods Romeis, Jörg Widmer, Franco Front Plant Sci Plant Science RNA interference (RNAi) is a powerful technology that offers new opportunities for pest control through silencing of genes that are essential for the survival of arthropod pests. The approach relies on sequence-specificity of applied double-stranded (ds) RNA that can be designed to have a very narrow spectrum of both the target gene product (RNA) as well as the target organism, and thus allowing highly targeted pest control. Successful RNAi has been reported from a number of arthropod species belonging to various orders. Pest control may be achieved by applying dsRNA as foliar sprays. One of the main concerns related to the use of dsRNA is adverse environmental effects particularly on valued non-target species. Arthropods form an important part of the biodiversity in agricultural landscapes and contribute important ecosystem services. Consequently, environmental risk assessment (ERA) for potential impacts that plant protection products may have on valued non-target arthropods is legally required prior to their placement on the market. We describe how problem formulation can be used to set the context and to develop plausible pathways on how the application of dsRNA-based products could harm valued non-target arthropod species, such as those contributing to biological pest control. The current knowledge regarding the exposure to and the hazard posed by dsRNA in spray products for non-target arthropods is reviewed and suggestions are provided on how to select the most suitable test species and to conduct laboratory-based toxicity studies that provide robust, reliable and interpretable results to support the ERA. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-06-04 /pmc/articles/PMC7289159/ /pubmed/32582240 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00679 Text en Copyright © 2020 Romeis and Widmer. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Romeis, Jörg
Widmer, Franco
Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods
title Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods
title_full Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods
title_fullStr Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods
title_full_unstemmed Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods
title_short Assessing the Risks of Topically Applied dsRNA-Based Products to Non-target Arthropods
title_sort assessing the risks of topically applied dsrna-based products to non-target arthropods
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7289159/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32582240
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2020.00679
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