Come, give pests a "camelina perfume"

Imagine if there was a way to keep your backyard garden free from pests, and this method neither harms the environment nor affects other beneficial organisms, how great would that be? Recently, at the Hangzhou "Double Ten Platform" Disruptive Technology Achievements Release, an innovative achievement called "Insect Pheromones" attracted widespread attention. This technology was developed by Ding Baojian and his team at Xianghu Laboratory, aiming to solve agricultural pest problems through synthetic biology and put on "green armor" for traditional agriculture.

Insect pheromones are chemical courtship signals produced by organisms themselves, which can attract insects of the opposite sex. "This pheromone is like a special perfume, which is irresistible to pests, and we use this to reduce the number of pests and protect crops," said Ding Baojian.

"Although traditional chemical pesticides can control pests to a certain extent, their side effects cannot be ignored." Ding Baojian told reporters that in the fields of Zhejiang, pests and diseases have always been a major problem for farmers. According to statistics, the annual crop yield reduction caused by pests and diseases in China can reach 30% to 50%, which not only seriously affects agricultural production, but also brings huge economic losses to farmers. However, the long-term use of chemical pesticides will not only pollute the environment, but also may affect the quality and taste of crops, and even pose a potential threat to human health.

Faced with this problem, Ding Baojian's team decided to take a different approach and explore a more environmentally friendly and efficient pest control method. "The damage caused by diamondback moth to cruciferous vegetables is relatively serious both domestically and globally. After unremitting efforts and about eight or nine years of trial and error, our team successfully used camelina as a base plant to produce pest pheromones." In order to verify the effectiveness of this achievement, Ding Baojian's team conducted field trials in multiple regions. The test results show that the new pheromone produced by synthetic biology methods is as effective as traditional chemically synthesized pheromones, and even performs better in some aspects. More importantly, the cost of this method is only about one-tenth of that of traditional chemically synthesized pheromones, allowing more farmers to afford this advanced technology.

Ding Baojian did some calculations for the reporter. Compared with the traditional pesticides that only cost a few yuan per acre, the chemically synthesized pheromone products on the market now cost hundreds to hundreds of yuan per acre. Using plants as the chassis and biosynthesis to manufacture, the current cost per acre is estimated to be around 20 yuan. More importantly, this pheromone is highly specific and only targets specific pests, without affecting other beneficial organisms. At present, the team is also conducting research on domestic pests, such as the rice stem borer, the grass leaf moth on corn, and the tomato leaf miner on tomatoes. "The next step is to isolate the target compound and then interfere with mating in the field, so that it cannot produce larvae, greatly reducing the population of the diamondback moth." Ding Baojian said that the team has connected with many companies and individuals in Hangzhou to conduct financing negotiations and jointly build a "plant factory" for pest pheromones. It is expected that in the next two to three years, related products can be put on the market to realize the transformation of scientific and technological innovation to industrial innovation.

(Source: Technology Financial Times)