1. Insect pest management in the age of synthetic biologyRubèn Mateos Fernández, Marko Petek, Mojca Juteršek, Iryna Gerasymenko, Špela Baebler, Kalyani Kallam, Elena Moreno Gimenéz, Janine Gondolf, Alfred Nordmann, Kristina Gruden, Diego Orzaez, Nicola Patron, 2022, review article Abstract: Arthropod crop pests are responsible for 20% of global annual crop losses, a figure predicted to increase in a changing climate where the ranges of numerous species are projected to expand. At the same time, many insect species are beneficial, acting as pollinators and predators of pest species. For thousands of years, humans have used increasingly sophisticated chemical formulations to control insect pests but, as the scale of agriculture expanded to meet the needs of the global population, concerns about the negative impacts of agricultural practices on biodiversity have grown. While biological solutions, such as biological control agents and pheromones, have previously had relatively minor roles in pest management, biotechnology has opened the door to numerous new approaches for controlling insect pests. In this review, we look at how advances in synthetic biology and biotechnology are providing new options for pest control. We discuss emerging technologies for engineering resistant crops and insect populations and examine advances in biomanufacturing that are enabling the production of new products for pest control.
Keywords: biotechnology, insect pest management, synthetic biology
Published in DiRROS: 05.08.2024; Views: 58; Downloads: 151
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2. Transcriptome-informed identification and characterization of Planococcus citri cis- and trans-isoprenyl diphosphate synthase genesMojca Juteršek, Iryna Gerasymenko, Marko Petek, Kristina Gruden, Špela Baebler, 2024, original scientific article Abstract: Insect physiology and reproduction depend on several terpenoid compounds, whose biosynthesis is mainly unknown. One enigmatic group of insect monoterpenoids are mealybug sex pheromones, presumably resulting from the irregular coupling activity of unidentified isoprenyl diphosphate synthases (IDSs). Here, we performed a comprehensive search for IDS coding sequences of the pest mealybug Planococcus citri. We queried the available genomic and newly generated short- and long-read P. citri transcriptomic data and identified 18 putative IDS genes, whose phylogenetic analysis indicates several gene family expansion events. In vitro testing confirmed regular short-chain coupling activity with five gene products. With the candidate with highest IDS activity, we also detected low amounts of irregular coupling products, and determined amino acid residues important for chain-length preference and irregular coupling activity. This work therefore provides an important foundation for deciphering terpenoid biosynthesis in mealybugs, including the sex pheromone biosynthesis in P. citri.
Keywords: insect pheromones, isoprenyl diphosphate synthase, monoterpenes, phylogenetic analysis
Published in DiRROS: 29.03.2024; Views: 387; Downloads: 210
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