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

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将为农民提供一类新的基于生物技术的农药，通过解决未满足的需求，为更负担得起的和环境友好的作物生产：有效，选择性和安全的农药。该项目将重点研究一种用于小菜蛾（DBM）的杀虫剂，小菜蛾是一种破坏油菜、卷心菜、花椰菜和羽衣甘蓝等芸苔属作物的害虫。 它是世界范围内代价最高的入侵性作物害虫，目前还没有可接受的抗性管理的有效解决方案。 DMB已经对常规杀虫剂中的90多种活性成分产生了抗性，即，几乎所有已知的杀虫剂种类如果成功，这一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，同时尽量减少使用与人类健康成本有关的非选择性传统农药。 我们的目标是开发一种产品，是有效的，有选择性的，并提供了改善的抗性管理，对外地人口的DMB。该SBIR第二阶段项目的智力价值是基于RNAi的杀虫剂的发展，用于治疗小菜蛾（小菜蛾）在十字花科作物的侵扰。 在过去的五年中，在生产RNAi触发物的方法方面取得了重大进展，这些方法允许以低价格大量生产这些材料，这是广泛的农业应用所需要的。在实验室中已经证明，基于RNAi的局部杀虫剂对预期靶标具有非常高的选择性。它们也可以容易地被修饰以对抗目标害虫产生的杀虫剂抗性。然而，由于在经济上有吸引力的施用率下的低功效，目前在商业靶标的RNAi列表中很少有害虫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，拟议技术的开发可应用于鳞翅目昆虫控制和其他生物技术应用。这项研究的成果将提供第一个可扩展的基于RNAi的杀虫剂靶向小菜蛾或任何鳞翅目昆虫的例子。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.