Figure 3.

Fecundity and mRNA expression of adult Diabrotica virgifera virgifera exposed to dsRNA vgr (dsvgr). For young adults (<5 days old; 50 pairs) and for old adults (>11 days old; 50 mated females) were exposed individually to sterile deionized water (control), 100 ng μl⁻¹ gfp dsRNA (dsgfp), or 100 ng μl⁻¹ vgr dsRNA (dsvgr) in artificial diet for 24 h. Exposed beetles were used to assess fecundity. Least square means pairwise comparison P-values: >0.05 (ns; not significant), <0.05*, <0.01**, <0.0001***. (a) Number of eggs laid per female per day (mean ± SE; n = 13 to 14). Treatment main effect P = 0.002; Age main effect P = 0.0028; Treatment *age interaction P > 0.05. (b) Percent egg hatchability by treatment and age group (mean ± SE; n = 13 −14; 12–226 eggs/day). Treatment main effect P < 0.001; Age main effect P > 0.05; Treatment *age interaction P > 0.05. (c) Gene suppression analysis of WCR old adults 4 days after dsRNA treatment and young adults 8 days after dsRNA treatment (mean ± SE; n = 4). Relative expression of vgr mRNA by qRT-PCR assay is shown for each treatment using rps10 as a reference and normalized to vgr expression in water control.