SBIR Phase I: Development of Broadly Efficacious Ribonucleic Acid Interference Triggers for Pesticides

SBIR 第一阶段：开发广泛有效的农药核糖核酸干扰触发器

• 批准号: 1647751
• 负责人: Juan Arhancet
• 金额: $ 22.5万
• 依托单位: APSE, Inc
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2016
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2016-12-15 至 2018-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1647751&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SBIR; Phase; Development; Broadly; Efficacious

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project will be the expansion of the range of applications of safe, selective, and effective ribonuclic acid interference (RNAi) triggers for use as pesticides. If successful, this biotechnology will contribute to sustainable food production and enhance biodiversity with minimal use of non-selective pesticides associated with human health costs and harmful impacts to non-target flora and fauna. The intended first product resulting from this project will be an insecticide to control fire ants. It is estimated that fire ants cause $7 billion in damages in the U.S. annually. There are number of products on the market that control fire ants, but few that customers are confident are environmentally benign and completely safe to humans and pets.This SBIR Phase I project proposes to develop and commercialize topical RNAi-based pesticides. Topical RNAi-based pesticides have been demonstrated in the lab to be very selective with respect to the intended target. They also may be readily modified to combat developed pesticide resistance by target pests. However, due to low efficacy at economically attractive application rates, few pests are currently in the RNAi list of commercial targets. This project specifically addresses the challenges related to 1) RNAi efficacy 2) cost of RNAi triggers. The outcomes of the proposed research would enable 1) lower the cost of topical RNAi-based pesticides by at least four-fold, 2) extend the range of the target insects, and 3) target Solenopsis Invicta Buren (Red Imported Fire Ant, RIFA). Once effective RNAi triggers have been identified, the process will be scaled up for the Phase II proposal. During Phase II, reaction conditions will be optimized at pilot scale to demonstrate the technology's value for production of RNAi triggers needed for field tests on RIFA.

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是扩大安全，选择性和有效的核糖核酸干扰（RNAI）触发器的应用范围，以用作农药。如果成功，这种生物技术将有助于可持续的粮食生产，并通过最少使用与人类健康成本相关的非选择性农药以及对非目标动植物和动物群的有害影响，从而提高生物多样性。 该项目产生的预期的第一个产品将是控制消防蚂蚁的杀虫剂。 据估计，消防蚂蚁每年在美国造成70亿美元的赔偿。 市场上有大量的产品来控制消防蚂蚁，但很少有客户有信心对人类和宠物完全安全，并且对人类和宠物来说是完全安全的。该SBIR I阶段项目建议开发和商业化基于RNAi的唯一性RNAi农药。在实验室中已经证明了基于RNAi的农药相对于预期目标非常有选择性。它们也可能很容易修改，以应对目标害虫的开发农药耐药性。但是，由于在经济上有吸引力的应用率下的功效低，目前在RNAi商业目标列表中很少有害虫。该项目特别解决了与1）RNAi功效相关的挑战2）RNAi触发器的成本。拟议的研究的结果将使1）降低局部RNAi农药的成本至少四倍，2）扩展目标昆虫的范围，3）目标虫虫（Red Invicta Buren）（红色进口火蚂蚁，RIFA）。一旦确定了有效的RNAi触发器，将对II期提案进行扩展。在II期期间，将以试点量表进行反应条件，以证明在RIFA上进行现场测试所需的RNAi触发器的技术价值。