SBIR Phase I: Attenu, a novel platform technology for developing attractants and repellents for the domestic honeybee, Apis mellifera

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段研究项目将开发一种新的平台技术，以促进发现改变昆虫行为的产品。这些新的昆虫控制产品通过干扰昆虫的化学感受途径来操纵昆虫的行为。该建议使用蜜蜂作为模型系统，蜜蜂是一种具有经济意义的昆虫，具有既定的遗传学和生物学。该项目将建立一种新型的高通量检测系统，用于识别与昆虫化学感受蛋白相互作用的分子，并使用该系统筛选与蜜蜂蛋白结合的小分子的组合化学库。 在商业上，该申请解决了对环境友好的昆虫控制产品的关键需求，该产品使用合理的设计来通过与化学感觉系统相互作用的有效产品来操纵昆虫行为。广谱杀虫剂广泛使用，但许多杀虫剂破坏环境并威胁人类健康。该项目将开发新的高通量方法，以分离作用于与昆虫化学感受蛋白相互作用的化合物的小分子，并改变昆虫感知和对环境刺激的反应方式。虽然这项提议是专门针对蜜蜂的，但这项研究最终将使基于化学传感器的控制其他昆虫物种在技术上变得可行。最终的目标是开发一系列广泛的产品，这些产品将与杀虫剂，驱虫剂和引诱剂具有成本竞争力，但保持与使用信息素相关的所有环境和安全效益。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I research project will develop a novel platform technology to facilitate the discovery of products to alter insect behavior. These novel insect control products manipulate insect behavior by interfering with the insects chemosensory pathway. This proposal uses the honeybee, an economically significant insect with established genetics and biology, as a model system. The project will establish a novel high throughput assay system for identifying molecules that interact with insect chemosensory proteins and use this system to screen a combinatorial chemical library for small molecules that bind to honeybee proteins. Commercially, the application addresses a critical need for environmentally friendly insect control products that use rational design to manipulate insect behavior via efficient products that interact with the chemosensory system. Broad-spectrum insecticides are widely used, but many damage the environment and threaten human health. The project will develop novel, high-throughput methods to isolate small molecules that act on compounds that would interact with insect chemosensory proteins and alter the way in which insects perceive and react to environmental stimuli. Although this proposal is specifically targeted to the honeybee, this research will ultimately make chemosensory-based control of other insect species technologically feasible. The eventual goal is to develop a broad range of products that will be cost competitive with insecticides, repellents, and attractants but maintain all of the environmental and safety benefits associated with the use of pheromones.