| Summary: |
Strict conditions inflicted by the climate change could induce reduced crop yield due to a higher incidence of pests and diseases. Significa
economic losses have been observed in valuable crops due to diverse diseases associated with fungal and insect pathogens leading to an
indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides for pest control and increased food productivity resulting in environmental contaminations. However, it is
well known that during the application of pesticides, large proportions of applied formulations do not reach the desirable target resulting in
deleterious impacts on environment and human health. In addition, the solvents and surfactants/additives used in the conventional formulations are
not sustainable and can lead to hazardous effects to environment and human health, particularly to manipulators of these formulations which are
exposed to excessive levels of these toxic compounds in addition to its active ingredient (a.i.). In this context, the development of biopesticides (BP),
such as RNA-based BP can represent a promising approach for a sustainable agriculture, since RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism is a natural
biological process that regulates gene expression via messenger RNA in a sequence-specific manner and thus, the exploitation of RNAi technolo
can improve crop protection, by being ecofriendly due to their strong selectivity to target-species compared to the conventional pesticides. Since
RNA is an unstable molecule, the use of nanomaterials (NM) as delivery carriers for topical RNA delivery can be an excellent strategy to protect RNA
from degradation in the environment and provide better foliar deposition due to their small-size and large specific surface area. Thus, topic
application of RNA-based NM can be an interesting and non-invasive alternative to genetically modified organisms. However, it is important
highlight that the design of NM also requires the use of ecofriendly compounds to avoid the environmental cont  |
Summary
Strict conditions inflicted by the climate change could induce reduced crop yield due to a higher incidence of pests and diseases. Significa
economic losses have been observed in valuable crops due to diverse diseases associated with fungal and insect pathogens leading to an
indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides for pest control and increased food productivity resulting in environmental contaminations. However, it is
well known that during the application of pesticides, large proportions of applied formulations do not reach the desirable target resulting in
deleterious impacts on environment and human health. In addition, the solvents and surfactants/additives used in the conventional formulations are
not sustainable and can lead to hazardous effects to environment and human health, particularly to manipulators of these formulations which are
exposed to excessive levels of these toxic compounds in addition to its active ingredient (a.i.). In this context, the development of biopesticides (BP),
such as RNA-based BP can represent a promising approach for a sustainable agriculture, since RNA interference (RNAi) mechanism is a natural
biological process that regulates gene expression via messenger RNA in a sequence-specific manner and thus, the exploitation of RNAi technolo
can improve crop protection, by being ecofriendly due to their strong selectivity to target-species compared to the conventional pesticides. Since
RNA is an unstable molecule, the use of nanomaterials (NM) as delivery carriers for topical RNA delivery can be an excellent strategy to protect RNA
from degradation in the environment and provide better foliar deposition due to their small-size and large specific surface area. Thus, topic
application of RNA-based NM can be an interesting and non-invasive alternative to genetically modified organisms. However, it is important
highlight that the design of NM also requires the use of ecofriendly compounds to avoid the environmental contamination and to fit in ONU´S Agen
for a sustainable development. In this sense, the main goal of Nano-RNABiocide is design RNA-BP based on sustainable NM (made from
physiological lipids, silica and lignin) for foliar application of RNA to control important pathogens which cause diseases in economically relevant
crops. For this purpose, Drosophila melanogaster will be selected as insect models, while Botrytis cinerea and Fusarium oxysporum will be selected
as fungi model species to evaluate the biocidal efficacy of RNA-NM. To attain the main goal, the first specific aim of this proposal is to p
ecofriendly NM using green synthesis for RNA encapsulation, protecting it from degradation and promote its biological activity on target species. In
this case, two approaches will be following: (i) production of lipid-silica NM and (ii) production of lipid-silica coated with lignin. This will be a crucial
step to ensure the RNA integrity into NM and thus, the production of NM will be made without organic solvents and several analytical techniques will
be applied to guarantee RNA stability. In parallel with the synthesis, the evaluation of fungicidal and insecticidal potentials of RNA-NM on selected
target species will be performed under in vitro assays. The innovative character of this propose comes from the design through green synthesis of
NM composed by the combination of ecofriendly compounds, such as, physiological/edible lipids, silica, and lignin to encapsulate and protect RNA
from environmental degradation improving its efficacy against target species. Specifically, this proposal will allow to understand the interac
between NM, RNA, and selected target species, as well as to study the mechanism of RNAi in gene silencing for pest control in agriculture. From this
perspective, Nano-RNABiocide addresses several challenges. However, this proposal consists of a team with high knowledge and experience in
synthesis of nanomaterials/nanopesticides, ecotoxicological assays and genetics and molecular biology that will be highly usable for the perfect
execution and success of this proposal |