Powdery mildew of rubber tree, caused by the obligate biotrophic fungus Erysiphe quercicola, is a serious disease that occurs in all rubber tree growing regions. The disease is mainly controlled by fungicides. Here, an alternative means for powdery mildew control by spraying double-stranded RNAs (dsRNA), which target E. quercicola genes, was investigated. First, we demonstrated that the conidia of E. quercicola can take-up environmental dsRNA. Furthermore, the spraying of dsRNA targeting E. quercicola genes can effectively reduce both the expression of the target gene of the pathogen and the rubber tree powdery mildew severity. The reduction in disease severity was up to 50 % compared to water-treated leaves. These results suggest that Spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS) of the pathogen genes will provide an additional tool to control rubber tree powdery mildew as well as a method to study the function of genes of E. quercicola.

橡胶树白粉病是由专性生物营养真菌白粉病( Erysiphe quercicola)引起的一种严重病害，发生在所有橡胶树产区。该病害主要通过杀菌剂防治。在这里，白粉病控制的另一种方法是喷洒双链 RNA (dsRNA)，其目标是大肠杆菌。对栎属基因进行了研究。首先，我们证明了E的分生孢子。栎树可以吸收环境双链RNA。此外，喷洒靶向大肠杆菌的 dsRNA 。栎树基因可有效降低病原菌靶基因的表达量，降低橡胶树白粉病的严重程度。与水处理的叶子相比，疾病严重程度降低了 50%。这些结果表明，喷雾诱导的病原体基因沉默（SIGS）将为控制橡胶树白粉病提供额外的工具以及研究大肠杆菌基因功能的方法。栎树。