STTR Phase I: Bioparticle delivery of dsRNA: A novel pest management solution for control of Western flower thrips

这项小型企业技术转让（STTR）项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是开发一种有针对性的生物农药，用于控制西部花蓟马，以减少最具经济破坏性的农业害虫之一的影响。蓟马是一种全球性的农业害虫，它携带一科病毒，可以感染1000多种植物，包括各种蔬菜、水果和坚果作物，每年在世界各地造成约10亿美元的损失。传统的化学防治方法已被证明是无效的，西方花蓟马已经对世界上30多种不同的合成农药产生了抗药性。500多种昆虫和螨虫也是如此，每年由于抗性害虫造成的破坏，价值数十亿美元的作物损失。广泛采用合成农药的替代品将大大降低农药使用的间接经济成本，据一项研究估计，美国每年的环境和社会成本为100亿美元，通过减少破坏性害虫的影响，可节省高达10亿美元的直接成本。这个STTR一期项目提议开发一种新的生物农药，专门针对西部花蓟马，可以通过单次喷施施用于寄主植物。在第一阶段，目标是展示使用专有生物颗粒工程平台开发生物农药的原理证明。需要解决的技术障碍包括：1)证明生物制剂可被蓟马摄入；2)证明将生物农药输送到蓟马肠道足以降低适应度；3)确定用于进一步测试的最佳生物制剂。第一个技术目标将侧重于各种生物颗粒的工程和特性，这些生物颗粒将在技术目标2中对蓟马的功效进行测试。该项目的成功完成将提供一种原型生物农药，并证明对西花蓟马的适应性有影响。有了这个原型，计划继续进行温室和小型现场试验，以便在大规模现场测试之前进一步改进产品。该项目的成功完成不仅将促进蓟马杀生剂的开发，而且将为调整这种基于生物颗粒的生物农药以针对一系列其他害虫提供概念证明。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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 Technology Transfer (STTR) project is to develop a targeted biological pesticide for control of the western flower thrips to reduce the impact of one of the most economically devastating agricultural pests. Thrips are a global agricultural pest that carry a family of viruses that can infect more than 1,000 species of plants including a wide variety of vegetable, fruit, and nut crops, causing an estimated $1 billion in losses each year around the world. Traditional chemical methods for control have proven ineffective and the western flower thrips has acquired resistance to over 30 different synthetic pesticides worldwide. The same is true for over 500 species of insects and mites, and several billion dollars worth of crops are lost each year due to damage caused by resistant pests. Widespread adoption of an alternative to synthetic pesticides will drastically reduce the indirect economic costs of pesticide use, estimated in one study at $10B in environmental and societal costs in the United States each year, and save up to a billion dollars in direct costs by reducing the impact of destructive pests.This STTR Phase I project proposes to develop a novel biopesticide specifically engineered to target the western flower thrips that can be applied to host plants through a single spray application. In Phase I, the goal is to demonstrate proof-of-principle for using a proprietary bioparticle engineering platform to develop the biopesticide. The technical hurdles that will be addressed include 1) demonstrating that the bioparticle can be ingested by thrips, 2) showing that delivery of the biopesticide to the thrips gut is sufficient to reduce fitness, and 3) identifying the optimal bioparticle formulation for further testing. The first technical objective will focus on the engineering and characterization of a variety of bioparticles that will be tested for efficacy in thrips in Technical Objective 2. Successful completion of this project will provide a prototype biopesticide with a demonstrated effect on the fitness of the western flower thrips. With this prototype, the plan is to proceed to greenhouse and small field trials to inform further product refinement prior to large scale field testing. Successful completion of this project will not only enable the development of a thrips biocide but will provide proof-of-concept for adapting such bioparticle-based biopesticides to target a range of additional insect pests.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.