Novel semiochemicals for crop protection through synthetic biology

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Due to pressure on available farmland there is an urgent need for sustainably enhancing food crop production. One approach to combat insect pests is to repel or attract them using pheromone or other chemical signal baited traps, keeping them away from high-value crops. Past attempts at the rational design of artificial insect pheromones have failed largely due to the highly specific nature of recognition processes in insects. Recently we have succeeded in producing modified aphid repellents/attractants through a strategic chemoenzymatic approach. One compound in particular proved to be a strong aphid attractant in small-scale laboratory experiments.We intend to produce more of this compound to test its efficacy in field simulations and also to explore the activity of some new closely related compounds. Furthermore we will seek to commercialise the invention with prospective business partners.