Novel Biopesticide Against Agricultural Pests
- Detailed Technology Description
- The invention describes novel methods to controlagricultural pests, including aphids, by deterring pests from settling onplants or ensuring that pests ingest pathogenic bacteria.
- Others
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- *Abstract
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Agricultural pests,including aphids cause severe damage to crops with losses ranging from 20 to 60percent of potential yield.
What Cornellresearchers recently discovered is that aphids avoid leaves when they are coatedwith pathogenic bacteria under UV-fluorescent light. The mechanism by which they are able to do sowas found to be the ability of aphids to visually detect and avoid UV-based fluorescenceemitted by a bacterial molecule called pyoverdine.
As proof ofprinciple and to ensure the effect was real, experiments were conducted under conditionsto minimize/negate the effect – low-UV fluorescent lighting and coatingof leaves on the same plant with bacteria that express or are devoid ofpyoverdine. The data below clearly showthat this discovery can be employed using two distinct strategies, each aloneor in combination:
- Figure 1 – Deterrence: use pyoverdine-producing bacterial strains todeter aphids;
- Figure 2 – Stealth: use engineered pathogenic bacterial strainsthat are devoid of pyoverdine to eliminate aphids.
Potential Applications
Use as a microbial biopesticide to control aphid populationsand/or aphid behavior.
Advantages
- Can be readily incorporated into any existing pestmanagement methods/strategies
- Shorter timeline for regulatory approval of biopesticides.
- *Licensing
- Phillip Owhpo62@cornell.edu1-607-254-4508
- Country/Region
- USA
