The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a major pest to agriculture. Adults are able to fly for long distances and to colonize staple crops, herbs and ornamentals, and to vector viruses belonging to several important taxonomic groups. During their early development, whiteflies mature from eggs through several nymphal stages (instars I to IV) until adults emerge from pupae. We aim at reducing whitefly populations by inhibiting the emergence of adults from nymphs. Here we targeted dystrophin, a conserved protein essential for the development of the muscle system in humans, other animals and insects. We have exploited the fact that whitefly nymphs developing on tomato leaves feed from the plant phloem via their stylets. Thus, we delivered dystrophin‐silencing double‐stranded RNA to nymphs developing on leaves of tomato plantlets with their roots bathing in the silencing solution. Downregulation of dystrophin expression occurred mainly in pupae. Dystrophin silencing induced also the downregulation of the dystrophin‐associated protein genes actin and tropomyosin, and disrupted F‐actin. Most significantly, the treatment inhibited the emergence of adults from pupae, suggesting that targeting dystrophin may help to restrain whitefly populations. This study demonstrates for the first time the important role of dystrophin in the development of a major insect pest to agriculture.

中文翻译：

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烟粉虱烟粉虱p中的肌营养不良蛋白表达下调抑制了成虫的出现。

粉虱烟粉虱是农业的主要害虫。成虫能够长途飞行并在主要农作物，草药和观赏植物上定居，并能够传播属于几个重要生物分类群的病毒。在它们的早期发育过程中，粉虱从卵中发展到几个若虫阶段（成虫I至IV），直到成虫从p中出来。我们旨在通过抑制若虫成虫的出现来减少粉虱种群。在这里，我们针对肌营养不良蛋白，一种对人类，其他动物和昆虫的肌肉系统发育至关重要的保守蛋白。我们利用了这样一个事实，即在番茄叶片上发育的粉虱若虫通过其韧皮部从植物韧皮部获取。因此，我们交付了肌营养不良蛋白将双链RNA沉默至番茄幼苗的叶子上发育的若虫，其根部浸在沉默溶液中。肌营养不良蛋白表达的下调主要发生在p中。肌营养不良蛋白沉默还诱导了肌营养不良蛋白相关蛋白基因肌动蛋白和原肌球蛋白的下调，并破坏了肌动蛋白。最显着的是，该治疗抑制了成虫成虫的出现，表明靶向肌营养不良蛋白可能有助于抑制粉虱种群。这项研究首次证明了肌营养不良蛋白在农业主要害虫发展中的重要作用。