By Sanjukta Mondal
Pesky pests can wreak havoc on plants by chewing leaves, boring into stems, and sucking sap from trees. Beyond the direct damage, they also spread harmful bacteria, viruses, and fungi that can infect and ultimately kill the crops. Every year, these destructive invaders are responsible for the loss of nearly 40% of global agricultural production. A friendly group of fungi, the Hypocreales, form symbiotic relations with plants and naturally protect them by antagonizing pests, acting as their personal biocontrol.
In a recent study, researchers used genetic analysis and analytical techniques to investigate the hidden biochemical arsenal of 82 fungal species that belong to the Hypocreales group. They identified over 5,000 groups of genes involved in making natural compounds, and surprisingly, nearly 80% of these blueprints were for chemicals that are completely unknown to science.
The team successfully proposed the biosynthetic pathways for four fungal compounds with promising biocontrol properties.
These findings, published in Nature Chemical Biology, open up exciting new possibilities in biosynthetic chemistry, with the potential to uncover new medicines and eco-friendly biopesticides.
Logging in the chemical library
Modern agriculture relies heavily on synthetic insecticides or pesticides, with annual usage going up to 2.7 million tons. These chemicals are neither benign toward the planet nor its living creatures. Most pesticides are broad-spectrum, so they end up harming not only the nuisance-causing insects but also beneficial species that maintain ecological balance, including pollinators like wild and honey bees.
Click here to see more...