Functional analysis of a novel parasitic nematode-specific protein of Setaria digitata larvae in Culex quinquefasciatus by siRNA mediated RNA interference.

Background: Functional analysis of animal parasitic nematode genes is often quite challenging due to the unavailability of standardised in vitro culture conditions and lack of adequate tools to manipulate these genes. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the suitability of Culex quinquefasciatus, as an in vivo culture platform for Setaria digitata larvae and RNA interference (RNAi), as a post-transcriptional gene silencing tool to study the roles of a vital gene that encodes a novel parasitic nematode-specific protein (SDNP).

Results: The red colour fluorescence detected following RNAi injection to the thorax of C.