The scope of this research is to develop a methodology to feed the larvae of the silkworm Bombyx mori with dsRNA, resulting in gene silencing effect. This will help in gene regulation studies and high throughput gene screening. Chitosan is an inexpensive, non-toxic and biodegradable polymer.
Chitosan/dsRNA nanoparticles are found to be effective in causing the RNAi effect by feeding the mosquitoes. In the silkworm, RNAi is achieved only by injection of dsRNA so far. However, enough authenticated devices are required for injection.
This technique is also time consuming. Feeding is a natural behavior in insects. Feeding the chitosan dsRNA nanoparticles to silkworm to cause the silencing effect has never been reported yet.
Additionally, this technique is labor saving, cost effective and easy to perform.
