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

这一小型企业创新研究(SBIR)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力将是扩大安全、选择性和有效的核糖酸干扰(RNAi)触发剂的应用范围，将其用作杀虫剂。如果成功，这种生物技术将有助于可持续的粮食生产和加强生物多样性，最大限度地减少使用与人类健康成本和对非目标动植物有害影响有关的非选择性杀虫剂。该项目计划产生的第一个产品将是一种控制火蚁的杀虫剂。据估计，火蚁每年在美国造成70亿美元的损失。市场上有许多控制火蚁的产品，但很少有客户相信这些产品对环境无害，对人类和宠物完全安全。这个SBIR第一阶段项目建议开发和商业化基于RNAi的局部杀虫剂。实验室已经证明，基于RNAi的局部杀虫剂对预期目标具有非常高的选择性。它们也可以很容易地进行改造，以对抗目标害虫产生的杀虫剂抗药性。然而，由于在经济上有吸引力的施用量下药效较低，目前在RNAi商业目标名单上的害虫很少。该项目专门解决与1)RNAi效力2)RNAi触发器的成本相关的挑战。拟议的研究成果将使1)基于RNAi的局部杀虫剂的成本至少降低四倍，2)扩大目标昆虫的范围，3)以红火蚁(Red Imported Fire Ant，RIFA)为目标。一旦确定了有效的RNAi触发因素，将针对第二阶段提案扩大这一过程。在第二阶段，将在中试规模上优化反应条件，以证明该技术在生产RNAi触发器方面的价值，这是RIFA现场测试所需的。

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.