Host Plant-Derived miRNAs Potentially Modulate the Development of a Cosmopolitan Insect Pest, Plutella xylostella

Abstract

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) have recently been reported to be involved in the cross-kingdom regulation of specific cellular and physiological processes in animals. However, little of this phenomenon is known for the communication between host plant and insect herbivore. In this study, the plant-derived miRNAs in the hemolymph of a cruciferous specialist were identified by small RNAs sequencing. A total of 39 miRNAs with typical characteristics of plant miRNAs were detected, of which 24 had read counts ≥ 2 in each library. Three plant-derived miRNAs with the highest read counts were validated, and all of them were predicted to target the hemocyanin domains-containing genes of . The luciferase assays in the S2 cell demonstrated that miR159a and novel-7703-5p could target and respectively, possibly in an incomplete complementary pairing mode. We further found that treatment with agomir-7703-5p significantly influenced the pupal development and egg-hatching rate when reared on the artificial...