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JP-7857041-B2 - Novel pest control method targeting the respiratory organ formation mechanism of insect pests

JP7857041B2JP 7857041 B2JP7857041 B2JP 7857041B2JP-7857041-B2

Inventors

  • 菊池 義智

Assignees

  • 国立研究開発法人産業技術総合研究所

Dates

Publication Date
20260512
Application Date
20230301
Priority Date
20220301

Claims (8)

  1. A composition for controlling insects, comprising one or more antioxidants, wherein the antioxidants are thiols or sulfides, and which, by inhibiting or eliminating reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation within the body of the target insect, reduce the insect's tracheal formation ability and thereby decrease its survival rate.
  2. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the antioxidant is selected from the group consisting of N-acetylcysteine (NAC), S-methylcysteine, glutathione, L-cysteine, D-cysteine, cysteine persulfide, cysteine trisulfide, allicin, alliin, allyl disulfide, L-cysteine methyl hydrochloride (LCM), L-cysteine ethyl hydrochloride (LCE), D-cysteine hydrochloride monohydrate (DCH), D-cysteine methyl hydrochloride (DCM), D-penicillamine (DPA), 2-aminoethanethiol (2-AET), L-methionine, L-methionine methyl hydrochloride (LMM), and two or more combinations thereof.
  3. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the insect expresses dual oxidase (Duox) in its trachea.
  4. The composition according to claim 1, wherein the insect is selected from the group consisting of Hemiptera insects including Riptortus pedestris, Cletus punctiger, Plautia stali, Dolycoris baccarum, Stenotus binotatus, Stenodema calcarata, and Apolygus spinolae; Blattodea insects including Blatta (Shelfordella) lateralis and Reticulitermes speratus; Coleoptera insects including Tenebrio molitor; Diptera insects including Drosophila melanogaster; and Lepidoptera insects.
  5. The composition according to claim 1, having a dosage form selected from the group consisting of granules, hydrated powder, water-dispersible granules (powder), water-soluble granules, soluble concentrate, oil-in-water emulsion, microemulsion, aqueous suspension concentrate, aqueous capsule suspension, oil-based suspension concentrate, and aqueous suspension emulsion.
  6. The composition according to claim 1, applied by a method selected from the group consisting of immersion, fumigation, dusting, aerial spraying, aerosol spraying, coating, spraying, solid spraying, and injection.
  7. A method for controlling insects, comprising using the composition described in any one of claims 1 to 6 to suppress or eliminate the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the body of the insect to be controlled, thereby reducing the tracheal formation ability of the insect and reducing the survival rate of the insect.
  8. The method for controlling insects according to claim 7 , wherein the method comprises applying the composition according to any one of claims 1 to 6 to a place where the insects may live, or to a place where contact with the insects is to be avoided.

Description

Applicable to Article 30, Paragraph 2 of the Patent Law ・Published on the following websites (Publication date: March 1, 2021) https://www.pnas.org/doi/pdf/10.1073/pnas.2020922118, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2020922118 https://www.pnas.org/doi/suppl/10.1073/pnas.2020922118, https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2020922118, https://www. pnas.org/action/downloadSupplement?doi=10.1073%2Fpnas.2020922118&file=pnas.2020922118.sapp.pdf ・Published on the following websites (Published on March 2, 2021) https://www.aist.go.jp/aist_j/press_release/pr2021/pr20210302/pr20210302.html, https://www.hokudai.ac.jp/news/pdf/210302_pr. PDF The present invention relates to a pest control composition containing a component that disrupts the respiratory system formation mechanism, which is widely common in the phylum Arthropoda, and to a method for controlling pests of the phylum Arthropoda using the component. Pests represent a significant economic burden in modern agriculture. Current agricultural systems require the cultivation of one or more crops or plant species across vast areas. Such ecologically unbalanced systems are susceptible to pest damage, and it is currently estimated that one-third of crops are lost due to pests. On the other hand, some insect pests are also harmful to the health of animals, including humans. For example, mosquitoes are known to transmit various diseases such as malaria, Zika fever, dengue fever, and chikungunya fever. Malaria, in particular, still affects more than 200 million people annually, mainly in tropical regions, and is considered one of the world's three major infectious diseases that cause immense health damage to humanity, along with tuberculosis and AIDS. Pest control has primarily been carried out using chemical insecticides that act on various physiological aspects of the target pest. However, the impact of such chemical insecticides on the surrounding environment, other than the target pests themselves, i.e., the environmental burden, has become a problem in recent years. In the "Green Food System Strategy" (Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries) formulated in May 2021, a target of reducing the use of chemical pesticides by 50% (risk-based) by 2050 was set. In recent years, general consumers have also become more aware of chemical residues and their impact on the health of animals and plants, as well as the environment. Environmentally friendly insecticides are therefore more readily accepted by the general public. One example of a pest control technology with a low environmental impact is biological control. Biological control provides an alternative means of pest control that reduces reliance on chemicals. A wide range of biological control agents, including bacteria, yeasts, and fungi, are being considered for use in pest control. For example, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a well-known biological control agent, commercially available as products such as Thuricide® and Dipel® (Non-Patent Literature 1). Attempts are also being made to utilize insecticidal compounds that are highly safe and have a low environmental impact. Examples of such insecticides include naturally occurring higher fatty acid esters such as lauric acid ester and palmitic acid ester, which are easily decomposed by soil bacteria, as well as higher alcohols such as octanol and undecanol (Patent Document 1), or fatty acids such as caproic acid and capric acid (Patent Document 2), which have been reported to be used as wood-boring insect control agents. Furthermore, pests can acquire resistance to insecticides. Therefore, there is always a high demand for novel pest control methods that complement or replace pest control using major chemicals, preferably with low environmental impact. : Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 8-133909: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-067607 Glare T. R., O'Callaghan M. 1998. Environmental and health impacts of Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis. Report prepared for the New Zealand Ministry of Health. New Zealand Ministry of Health, Wellington, New Zealand.Jang S, Mergaert P, Ohbayashi T, Ishigami K, Shigenobu S, Itoh H, Kikuchi Y.: Dual oxidase enables insect gut symbiosis by mediating respiratory network formation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U S A 118: e2020922118 (2021) Figure 1 shows that in Riptortus pedestris, the amount of symbiotic microorganisms in the gut is significantly reduced when Duox-RNAi is applied as a Duox inhibitor or N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is applied as an antioxidant. Figure 2 shows that in slender stink bugs treated with Duox-RNAi as a Duox inhibitor or NAC as an antioxidant, the density of tracheae in the intestinal tissue is significantly reduced compared to the control. The tracheae were observed by immunostaining with dityrosine antibody. Figure 3 shows that the amount of intestinal symbiotic microorganisms in the slender stink bug decreases upon application of Duox-RNAi, and that the microbial population recovers under high-oxy