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Discovery of Plant-Made Proteins Offers New Hope for Pest Control in Crop Plants

Professor Marilyn Anderson at La Trobe University has made a groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize the way we control pests in crop plants. This discovery has the potential to address a significant threat to global food production, as it could lead to the development of plant-made protein pest control.

New Proteins with Similarities to Known Insect Control Agents

“The structural analysis demonstrates that even though this protein is produced by plants, it has several features in common with known three-domain Cry proteins used extensively in agriculture for insect control,” Professor Anderson explains.

These proteins have shown to effectively protect crops from damage caused by serious lepidopteran pests, such as caterpillars.

A Promising Solution to Pest Resistance

The proteins discovered by Corteva Agriscience provide an alternative mode of action to combat insect pests that threaten food and fiber production. This finding could potentially overcome the issue of pest resistance to existing insecticidal methods.

Pest control in major global crops like corn, soybean, and cotton currently relies on transgenes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to produce insecticidal proteins for protection against major pests. However, concerns have arisen that pests may develop resistance to these proteins, making it crucial to find alternative solutions.

Introducing IPD113: A New Family of Insecticidal Proteins

This study highlights the discovery of a novel family of insecticidal proteins, known as IPD113. These proteins are found in ferns like Pteris species, commonly known as “brake” and often kept as houseplants.

IPD113 proteins have demonstrated high efficacy in artificial diet-based assays against major lepidopteran pests of maize and soybeans. Furthermore, when maize and soybean plants produce IPD113 proteins, they exhibit increased resistance to insect damage on leaves, stems, and ears compared to control plants.

Surprising Similarities and Enhanced Effectiveness

Crystal structure analysis of one of these proteins has revealed a surprising similarity to certain Bt insecticidal proteins, despite their plant origin. Notably, these fern proteins lack a domain typically present in Bt proteins but still maintain their effectiveness.

Perhaps most remarkable is the fact that these fern proteins can still affect fall armyworm, even when they are resistant to conventional Bt proteins.

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