Selecting an appropriate target gene is critical to the success of oral RNA interference-based pest control. The selection of target genes has depended on their ability to induce lethality. However, the induction of lethality by oral RNAi is slow-acting, and crop damage can progress during this time. Here, we show that oral RNAi of the death-associated inhibitor of apoptosis protein 1 (diap1), unlike two conventional target genes, induces acute feeding cessation in the solanaceous pest, Henosepilachna vigintioctopunctata within 24 h. We also found that our designed dsRNA has high specificity and does not cause death or reduce diap1 expression in two non-target insects. Our results suggest that diap1 is an appropriate target in the context of the rapid reduction of crop damage. We propose that the phenotype of acute feeding cessation should be used as a novel criterion for selecting target genes for RNAi-based pest control.

选择合适的靶基因对于成功进行基于口服RNA干扰的害虫控制至关重要。靶基因的选择取决于它们诱导致死性的能力。但是，口服RNAi对致死性的诱导作用很慢，在此期间可能会损害作物。在这里，我们表明，口服的RNAi死亡-细胞凋亡蛋白1的相关联的抑制剂（DIAP1），不同于两个常规的靶基因，诱导急性在茄科害虫，摄食停止茄二十八星瓢虫24小时之内。我们还发现，我们设计的dsRNA具有很高的特异性，不会导致死亡或减少diap1在两种非靶标昆虫中的表达。我们的结果表明在迅速减少农作物损害的背景下，diap1是一个适当的目标。我们建议急性进食表型应作为选择基于RNAi的害虫控制目标基因的新标准。