HEA acts against P. xylostella via adenosine receptors

The diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, is one of the most important pests of cruciferous crops. We have earlier shown that N6-(2-hydroxyethyl)-adenosine (HEA) exhibits insecticidal activity against P. xylostella. In the present study we investigated the possible mechanism of insecticidal action of HEA on P. xylostella. HEA is a derivative of adenosine, therefore, we speculated whether it acts via P. xylostella adenosine receptor (PxAdoR). We used RNAi approach to silence PxAdoR gene and used antagonist of denosine receptor (AdoR) to study the insecticidal effect of HEA. We cloned the whole sequence of PxAdoR gene.