Molecular features and functional studies of transcription factor, Cap ‘n’ collar C, in the brown planthopper, Nilaparvata lugens Stål (Hemiptera Delphacidae)

• Molecular features of Cap ‘n’ Collar C of Nilaparvata lugens was firstly described. • Knockdown of NlCncC cause lethality in N. lugens. • NlCncC mediate resistance of N. lugens to imidacloprid by affecting transcript level of P450 genes. Cap ‘n’ collar C ( CncC ), a transcription factor, plays a vital role in the development of insect resistance by regulating the expression of multiple detoxifying genes. Clarifying the molecular characteristics of CncC and its pathway regulating insecticide resistance will aid the development of integrated pest control strategies. Here we cloned and identified the molecular feature of CncC genes from the brown planthopper (BPH), Nilaparvata lugens (Stål), (Hemiptera: Delphacidae). The full-length open reading frame of NlCncC was 3015 nucleotides with 1005 amino acids. The deduced amino acid sequence has a high similarity with other insect homologs and contains the characteristic Cnc/bZip domain architecture. Functional studies showed that silencing NlCncC by RNA interference (RNAi) could downregulate the transcript expression of NlCYP6ER1 , NlCYP6CW1, and NlCYP6AY1, which increase the susceptibility to imidacloprid in N. lugens . The identification of molecular characteristics of NlCncC and functional studies in this paper will contribute to designing effective control strategies for N. lugens .