Honeybees are inevitably threatened by various pathogens including Sacbrood virus (SBV) and Galleria mellonella. Recently, RNA interference (RNAi) has been suggested as a promising strategy for suppression of honey bee viruses. Also, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been widely applied for the control of lepidopteran pests such as G. mellonella. In this study, it was intended to develop dsRNA production platform using Bt. For this, the pHT1K-SBV vp1 vector which transcribes sense and anti-sense SBV vp1 gene under control of Cyt1Aa sporulation-dependent promoter was introduced into Bt strain NT0423 expressing Cry1-types toxins. SBV replication was suppressed in the worker A. cerana ingested dsRNA produced from the Bt transformant. Crystal proteins from the Bt transformant showed high level of insecticidal activity against 4th instar larvae of G. mellonella.

• Min Gu Park(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Jae Young Choi(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Jong Hoon Kim(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Dong Hwan Park(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Jun Young Kim(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Minghui Wang(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Hee Yeon Cho(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)
• Yeon Ho Je(Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University)