Aphids represent one of the major pests in agriculture. Their fast breeding and ability to develop resistance to insecticides make their population control challenging. Recently, the ecotoxicity of some neonicotinoids insecticides to bees has led to calls for restrictions on their use in agriculture. Therefore, it has become necessary to explore new strategies to find eco-friendly insecticides. Herein, we have focused our work particularly on the aphid chemoreception system (AChS), both with respect to the proteins such as odorant-binding proteins (OBPs), and the semiochemical (E)-�-farnesene (EBF), the alarm pheromone for most aphids which they release in the presence of danger. Several types of EBF analogs were designed and their protein binding properties and repellent activities were measured indoors. The results indicated that ApisOBP3 and/or ApisOBP7 might be responsible for mediating the perception of EBF and its analogues. Some analogs exhibited similar repellent activity to EBF but higher stability. Furthermore, CAU1204, one of EBF analogues, was selected as a candidate for field trials while its acute toxicity and eco-toxicities were evaluated. The positive results convinced us that the design of control agents based on disturbing AChS could be a new way of discovering eco-friendly aphicides.

Eco-friendly aphicide discovery based on interference of insect chemoreception systems

248th National Meeting (2014)

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