Descripción del proyecto
Un método innovador para mejorar la selectividad de los plaguicidas
Los plaguicidas (y en especial los efectos tóxicos de los insecticidas sobre los insectos no objetivo, como las abejas) se encuentran entre los principales factores que subyacen a la rápida disminución del número y la diversidad de los insectos en todo el mundo. El equipo del proyecto DETOXPEST, financiado con fondos europeos, propone un enfoque innovador para controlar el daño de los proplaguicidas, mediante la activación de las proteasas vegetales al llegar al intestino de las orugas cuando estas se alimentan. El método no perjudica a los insectos beneficiosos no objetivo que no causan daños, entre los que se incluyen los polinizadores y los enemigos naturales de las plagas. En este contexto, el equipo de DETOXPEST estudiará los efectos de «Spodoptera frugiperda», una plaga de insectos invasores y una gran amenaza potencial para la agricultura de la Unión Europea, en la planta modelo «Arabidopsis thaliana» y el cultivo de maíz.
Objetivo
Insects numbers and diversity have rapidly declined in the EU and worldwide. Pesticides, and particularly the toxicity of insecticides to non-target insects (e.g. bees), are one of the major drivers of insect declines. Apart from destabilizing natural ecosystems, pollinator disappearance directly threatens food security.
To help combat insect decline, I propose an innovative approach for the damage-activation of pro-pesticides (DAPP) by plant proteases that are activated in the gut of feeding caterpillars. Non-target beneficial insects that cause no damage, including pollinators and natural enemies of pests, are spared.
My team pioneers the study of proteolysis in the plant wound response, following our recent discovery that physical damage activates a class of proteases, called metacaspases. I hypothesize that i) damage-activated plant proteolysis is a largely unrecognized but potential key player in the plant wound response to insect herbivores and ii) this knowledge can be used to enhance pesticide biosafety.
We will study the impact of fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), an invasive insect pest and potential major threat to EU agriculture, on the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana and the economically important crop maize. A combination of advanced (N-terminomics) and novel (Proteome Integral Solubility Alteration) proteomics technologies will allow us to uncover unknown plant metacaspase substrates and damage-activated proteases and to assess their impact on insect herbivory. These fundamental studies will feed information into a pipeline of first-in-class DAPP development, where we will modify biological insecticides with newly-discovered protease cleavage sites. Finally, we will test toxicity against target (Spodoptera) and non-target insects.
My early-stage and fundamental research on damage-activated proteolysis can have a tremendous positive impact on the increase of insecticide selectivity to help combat the escalating problem of insect decline.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsproteomics
- medical and health scienceshealth sciencesnutrition
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesagriculture
- natural sciencesbiological scienceszoologyentomology
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-AG - HORIZON Action Grant Budget-BasedInstitución de acogida
750 07 Uppsala
Suecia