Novel delivery of phytochemicals for sustainable crop protection

用于可持续作物保护的新型植物化学物质输送

• 批准号: BB/S018948/1
• 负责人: Toby Bruce
• 金额: $ 31.16万
• 依托单位: Keele University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FS018948%2F1
• 关键词: Novel; delivery; phytochemicals; sustainable; crop; Novel; delivery; phytochemicals; sustainable; crop

New solutions for managing insect pests are urgently needed due to evolution of resistance to current insecticides. Insect pests cause annual losses of US$17.7 billion to the Brazilian economy. Our project focuses on development and bioactivity testing of nanotech and metallic coordination complexes as novel delivery mechanisms for bioactive phytochemcials, to provide new options for crop protection. By using defensive non-host phytochemicals, outside the metabolome of inbred crops, we can deliver phytochemcials that crop pests have not evolved with. UK-Brazil collaboration provides an ideal opportunity to share expertise and strengthen this new and promising area of research.The Stage 1 (pump-priming) project has successfully shown that nanoformulation and complexing of phytochemicals can solve low solubility issues, improve longevity of release and alleviate phytotoxicity; three major issues that have impeded the development of botanical insecticides to date. Furthermore, our early (proof of concept) phytochemical treatments have good efficacy, causing > 80% mortality of four major insecticide resistant pest species that are plaguing Brazilian agriculture (whitefly, Bemisia tabaci; fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda; Western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis, and peach-potato aphid, Myzus persicae). Treatments were also shown to strongly and significantly inhibit aphid reproduction (near complete shutdown) and had highly significant repellent activity. Stage 1 established a new collaboration between Biologists at Keele University (UK) and Chemists at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar, Brazil), which was further strengthened by inclusion of crop protection expertise at São Paulo State University (UNESP, Brazil). The project has benefited from Keele Nanoceutics expertise, allowing low cost nanotech technologies from medical research to be translated into the agricultural field. Investment in Stage 1 has thus provided a solid foundation for future research.The Stage 2 project will use the collaboration established in Stage 1 to move towards generating new commercially viable phytochemical treatments. Workshops and exchange visits will be held to allow research groups to share expertise and work together. We have three workshops planned: UNESP (June 2019), Keele (Jan 2020) and UFSCar (Jan 2021). Experimental work will focus on three main areas: 1) Development and optimisation of phytochemical delivery using nanoformulation and complexing techniques. Treatments will be scaled up from leaf discs to whole plants with detailed investigation of two promising routes for application: sprayable formulations and systemic uptake via root drench treatments. 2) Testing bioactivity of formulations against economically important Brazilian crop pest targets. Antibiotic, antifeedant and repellent activity will be tested for using established methods we have developed for the four species. 3) Environmental and target specificity assessment. Most of the phytochemicals and formulations we are testing are already widely used as food ingredients, in medicine or in aromatherapy. However, we will obtain evidence in order to make the case for subsequent commercialisation of treatments. Breakdown of new biodegradable formulations will be measured. Non-target effects will be assessed with mammalian cell lines, an egg parasitoid wasp Trichogramma pretiosum (a beneficial natural enemy), and the honeybee, Apis mellifera.We have shown cross-fertilisation between the disciplines involved in the project, allowing Agriculture to advance by using approaches already developed in Chemistry and Medicine. Our hypothesis is that our novel formulations could provide a means to "outsource", for crop protection, defensive phytochemicals from plants that crop pests have not evolved with and therefore are susceptible to. The Stage 2 project has considerable potential to generate much needed new tools for managing crop pests.

由于对当前杀虫剂的抗性，急需急需管理害虫的新解决方案。害虫为巴西经济造成177亿美元的年损失。我们的项目着重于纳米技术和金属协调络合物的发展和生物活性测试，作为生物活性植物化学物质的新型输送机制，以提供新的作物保护选择。通过使用防御性的非宿主植物化学物质，在近植物的代谢组之外，我们可以提供植物害虫没有进化的植物化学物质。英国 - 巴西的合作提供了一个理想的机会，可以共享专业知识并加强这一新的研究领域。第1阶段（泵送）项目成功地表明，植物化学物质的纳米化和复杂性可以解决低溶解度，改善释放的寿命，并提高释放的寿命和私密的植物毒性；三个主要问题阻碍了迄今为止植物性杀虫剂的发展。此外，我们的早期（概念证明）植物治疗的效率良好，导致四种耐巴西农业的耐杀虫剂害虫物种的死亡率> 80％（粉虫，thaphips tabaci; fall yrand tabaci; Fall陆军，Spodoptera Frugiperda; spodoptera frougiperda; spodoptera; spodoptera; spodoptera;处理还显示出强烈和显着抑制蚜虫繁殖（接近完整）的关闭），并且具有非常重要的驱虫活性。第1阶段在基尔大学（英国）建立了新的合作，并在巴西UFSCAR联邦大学（联邦大学）的化学家建立了新的合作，这通过在巴西圣保罗州立大学（巴西联合国教堂）纳入农作物保护专业知识而进一步加强了这一合作。该项目受益于Keele Nanoceutics专业知识，从而使医学研究中的低成本纳米技术技术可以转化为农业领域。因此，对第1阶段的投资为未来的研究奠定了坚实的基础。第2阶段项目将利用第1阶段建立的合作，朝着产生新的商业可行的植物化学处理。将举行讲习班和交流访问，以允许研究小组共享专业知识和共同努力。我们计划了三个研讨会：UNESP（2019年6月），基尔（2020年1月）和UFSCAR（2021年1月）。实验工作将集中在三个主要领域：1）使用纳米制剂和络合技术来开发和优化物理分娩。处理将从叶盘缩放到整个植物，并详细研究针对应用的两种有希望的途径：可通过根淋湿处理的可喷涂配方和全身摄取。 2）测试公式对经济上重要的巴西作物害虫目标的生物活性。将测试使用我们为四种物种开发的既定方法，对抗生素，抗源性和驱虫活性进行测试。 3）环境和目标特异性评估。我们正在测试的大多数物理和公式已经被广泛用作食物诱导，在医学或芳香疗法中。但是，我们将获得证据，以便为随后的治疗商业化。将测量新的可生物降解公式的分解。非目标效应将通过哺乳动物细胞系，卵寄生的黄蜂三分法（一种有益的天然敌人）和蜜蜂Apis Mellifera进行评估。我们显示了项目中涉及的学科之间的交叉施用，从而使农业可以在化学和药物中使用已经开发的农业发展。我们的假设是，我们的新颖公式可以提供一种手段，用于“外包”，用于作物保护，防御性的生理化学物质，从作物害虫没有进化，因此很容易受到影响。第2阶段项目已经考虑了生成急需的新工具来管理农作物害​​虫。