Transplastomic tomatoes expressing double-stranded RNA against a conserved gene are efficiently protected from multiple spider mites.

Spider mites are serious pests and have evolved significant resistance to many chemical pesticides, thus making their control challenging. Several insect pests can be combated by plastid-mediated RNA interference (PM-RNAi), but whether PM-RNAi can be utilized to control noninsect pests is unknown. Here, we show that three species of spider mites (Tetranychus evansi, Tetranychus truncatus, and Tetranychus cinnabarinus) take up plastid RNA upon feeding.