To investigate the effects of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) treatment on D. citri�s biology, we conducted dsRNA feeding assays on adult D. citri sampled from a laboratory colony. Briefly, D. citri (separated by gender) were fed with 20% sucrose solutions supplied with 0.5% green food coloring dye and 50 ng/�l of dsRNA. The dsRNA solutions was prepared using a V-type proton ATPase [v-ATPase]) gene or a bacterial green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene fragment. For each gender, additional groups of individuals were kept either on a blank �sucrose + buffer diet� or in a container without food. After monitoring the survivorship of these insects overtime, we found that D. citri under the starvation treatment had the lowest survivorships, indicating that those in the other treatment groups do feed on the dsRNA-containing diets. In females, the survivorships of both the GFP-dsRNA and the v-ATPase-dsRNA treatment groups were lower than the buffer-only group. No significant difference was detected between the survivorship of the two dsRNA treatment groups. The patterns were different in males; treatments other than the starvation group all exhibited similar survivorship over time. We are currently testing whether RNAi treatments could influence D. citri�s ability to acquire and transmit Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas). D. citri adults collected from a laboratory colony free of CLas infection were subjected to dsRNA treatments. For such treatments, the insects were fed on a diet consisting of 100 ng/ul dsRNA, 0.5% green food coloring dye, and 20% sucrose. The diets were enclosed within stretched Parafilm membranes serving as the bottoms of plastic petri dish arenas (Fig. 1A). As a negative control, dsRNA was replaced with products of blank dsRNA synthesis reactions (i.e., no-template reaction product) of the MEGAscript T7 Transcription Kit (Ambion, Inc.). The feeding assays were conducted in a growth chamber under 28�C. After 72 h of treatment, the insects will be moved onto flushing, CLas-infected citrus plants (Citrus macrophylla; Fig. 1B). The infection statuses of these plants were determined using quantitative PCR (Li, Hartung, and Levy 2006). Approximately 8-10 adults (male and female ratio ~1:1) will be moved to an individual plant. Four to five replicates (plants) will be tested for each treatment group. The insects will be allowed to reproduce and oviposit on the plants. If the insects successively reproduce on the plants, the original adults will be removed after the nymphs emerge. The second-generation adults developed from the nymphs will be relocated onto leaf discs of healthy citrus plants. After a week, the individuals will be sampled and stored at -80�C. The collected samples will be tested for the presence and abundance of CLas using quantitative PCR (Li, Hartung, and Levy 2006) and the measurements will be compared.