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

SBIR 第二阶段：开发广泛有效的农药核糖核酸干扰触发器

基本信息

批准号：
1853008
负责人：
Juan Arhancet
金额：
$ 74.53万
依托单位：
NanoSUR LLC
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2019
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2019-03-01 至 2023-07-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1853008&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
SBIR Phase II Development Broadly

项目摘要

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will be to provide farmers with a new class of biotechnology-based pesticides for more affordable and environmentally benign crop production by addressing an unmet need: an efficacious, selective and safe pesticide. The project will focus on a pesticide for the diamondback moth (DBM), a pest that damages Brassica crops such as canola, cabbage, cauliflower and collards. It is the most costly invasive crop pest worldwide, for which there is no effective solution with acceptable resistance management. DMB has developed resistance to more than 90 active ingredients in conventional insecticides, i.e., almost every insecticide class known. If successful, this biotechnology platform will contribute to sustainable food production and enhanced biodiversity with minimal use of non-selective traditional pesticides associated with human health costs. The goal is to develop a product that is efficacious, selective, and provides improved resistance management against field populations of DMB.The intellectual merit of this SBIR Phase II project is the development of RNAi-based pesticide for the treatment of diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) infestations in cruciferous crops. In the last five years, there have been significant advances in the methods for the production of RNAi triggers that allow the manufacturing of these materials in large quantities and at a low price, which is required for broad agricultural applications. 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, very few pests and no Lepidopteran insects are currently in the RNAi list of commercial targets. This project specifically addresses the challenges related to RNAi efficacy, and the development of the proposed technology could be applied to Lepidopteran control and other biotechnology applications. The outcome of the proposed research would provide the first example of a scalable RNAi-based insecticide targeting Plutella xylostella or any Lepidopteran.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该小企业创新研究 (SBIR) 第二阶段项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是通过解决未满足的需求，为农民提供新型生物技术农药，以实现更实惠、对环境无害的作物生产：一种有效的、选择性的农药和安全的农药。该项目将重点开发针对小菜蛾（DBM）的杀虫剂，这种害虫会损害油菜、卷心菜、花椰菜和羽衣甘蓝等芸苔属作物。它是全球成本最高的入侵作物害虫，目前尚无有效的解决方案和可接受的抗性管理。 DMB 已对传统杀虫剂中的 90 多种活性成分（即几乎所有已知的杀虫剂类别）产生了抗药性。如果成功，该生物技术平台将有助于可持续粮食生产和增强生物多样性，同时尽量减少与人类健康成本相关的非选择性传统农药的使用。目标是开发一种有效、有选择性的产品，并改善对 DMB 田间种群的抗性管理。该 SBIR 二期项目的智力成果是开发基于 RNAi 的农药，用于治疗小菜蛾 (Plutella xylostella) ）十字花科作物的侵染。在过去五年中，RNAi 触发器的生产方法取得了重大进展，可以以较低的价格大量生产这些材料，这是广泛的农业应用所必需的。实验室已证明基于 RNAi 的局部杀虫剂对于预期目标具有非常高的选择性。它们还可以很容易地进行修改，以对抗目标害虫产生的杀虫剂抗药性。然而，由于在经济上具有吸引力的施用率下功效较低，目前RNAi商业目标清单中的害虫非常少，并且没有鳞翅目昆虫。该项目专门解决了与 RNAi 功效相关的挑战，所提出的技术的开发可应用于鳞翅目控制和其他生物技术应用。拟议研究的结果将提供第一个针对小菜蛾或任何鳞翅目昆虫的可扩展的基于 RNAi 的杀虫剂的例子。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。