scholarly journals Phytotoxicity of Essential Oils: Opportunities and Constraints for the Development of Biopesticides. A Review

Foods ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (9) ◽  
pp. 1291 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre-Yves Werrie ◽  
Bastien Durenne ◽  
Pierre Delaplace ◽  
Marie-Laure Fauconnier

The extensive use of chemical pesticides leads to risks for both the environment and human health due to the toxicity and poor biodegradability that they may present. Farmers therefore need alternative agricultural practices including the use of natural molecules to achieve more sustainable production methods to meet consumer and societal expectations. Numerous studies have reported the potential of essential oils as biopesticides for integrated weed or pest management. However, their phytotoxic properties have long been a major drawback for their potential applicability (apart from herbicidal application). Therefore, deciphering the mode of action of essential oils exogenously applied in regards to their potential phytotoxicity will help in the development of biopesticides for sustainable agriculture. Nowadays, plant physiologists are attempting to understand the mechanisms underlying their phytotoxicity at both cellular and molecular levels using transcriptomic and metabolomic tools. This review systematically discusses the functional and cellular impacts of essential oils applied in the agronomic context. Putative molecular targets and resulting physiological disturbances are described. New opportunities regarding the development of biopesticides are discussed including biostimulation and defense elicitation or priming properties of essential oils.

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (6) ◽  
pp. 1620
Author(s):  
Victor Markus ◽  
Karina Golberg ◽  
Kerem Teralı ◽  
Nazmi Ozer ◽  
Esti Kramarsky-Winter ◽  
...  

Quorum sensing (QS), a sophisticated system of bacterial communication that depends on population density, is employed by many pathogenic bacteria to regulate virulence. In view of the current reality of antibiotic resistance, it is expected that interfering with QS can address bacterial pathogenicity without stimulating the incidence of resistance. Thus, harnessing QS inhibitors has been considered a promising approach to overriding bacterial infections and combating antibiotic resistance that has become a major threat to public healthcare around the globe. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the most frequent multidrug-resistant bacteria that utilize QS to control virulence. Many natural compounds, including furanones, have demonstrated strong inhibitory effects on several pathogens via blocking or attenuating QS. While the natural furanones show no activity against P. aeruginosa, furanone C-30, a brominated derivative of natural furanone compounds, has been reported to be a potent inhibitor of the QS system of the notorious opportunistic pathogen. In the present study, we assess the molecular targets and mode of action of furanone C-30 on P. aeruginosa QS system. Our results suggest that furanone C-30 binds to LasR at the ligand-binding site but fails to establish interactions with the residues crucial for the protein’s productive conformational changes and folding, thus rendering the protein dysfunctional. We also show that furanone C-30 inhibits RhlR, independent of LasR, suggesting a complex mechanism for the agent beyond what is known to date.


2019 ◽  
pp. 17-23
Author(s):  
Ashmi Samuel

Cucurbitacins which are structurally unlike triterpenes found in the members of Cucurbitaceae and several other plant families possess immense pharmacological activity. This diverse group of compounds may substantiate to be important lead molecules for the treatment of cancer. Research focused on this unattended medicinal compound can prove the significance and explore the hidden potential to cure various diseases. These compounds show their proposed mode of action, probable molecular targets and have future aspects of their use as a medicinal agent. This review is aimed to provide the chemical nature and medicinal property of cucurbitacins.


2021 ◽  
pp. 641-668
Author(s):  
Jürgen Köhl ◽  

Bioprotectants have the potential to replace chemical pesticides in agricultural cropping systems and crop protection approaches. Development of new bioprotectants in combination with more restricted use of chemical crop protection will result in their much stronger market position in the future. Bioprotectants fulfil particular roles in current and future crop protection approaches, primarily reducing pesticide residues in harvested products in conventional systems, as well as being the first and preferred control option in integrated pest management programs and organic farming, and complementing resident microbiomes in future resilient cropping systems. The process of developing bioprotectants can take ten to 15 years. This chapter aims to give a brief overview of the role of bioprotectants in current and future crop protection approaches to stimulate discussion within the biocontrol industries, and amongst scientists and funding agencies on the need for new generations of bioprotectants for an agriculture industry undergoing transition.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine M Little ◽  
Thomas W Chapman ◽  
N Kirk Hillier

AbstractThe past 100 yr have seen dramatic philosophical shifts in our approach to controlling or managing pest species. The introduction of integrated pest management in the 1970s resulted in the incorporation of biological and behavioral approaches to preserve ecosystems and reduce reliance on synthetic chemical pesticides. Increased understanding of the local ecosystem, including its structure and the biology of its species, can improve efficacy of integrated pest management strategies. Pest management strategies incorporating insect learning paradigms to control insect pests or to use insects to control other pests can mediate risk to nontarget insects, including pollinators. Although our understanding of insect learning is in its early stages, efforts to integrate insect learning into pest management strategies have been promising. Due to considerable differences in cognitive abilities among insect species, a case-by-case assessment is needed for each potential application of insect learning within a pest management strategy.


Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1890
Author(s):  
Lara Ivanković Tatalović ◽  
Barbara Anđelić ◽  
Mišel Jelić ◽  
Tomislav Kos ◽  
Hugo A. Benítez ◽  
...  

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) is used in assessing the effect of environmental stress on the development stability of individuals by measuring small random deviations from perfect bilateral symmetry. Here, we checked for FA on two predatory carabid beetles, Pterostichus melas and Poecilus koyi, in order to evaluate species response to agricultural practices within Mediterranean agroecosystems, as well as FA as a method. The samples were collected in vineyards and olive groves, both under integrated pest management (IPM) and ecological pest management (EPM), and in pristine habitats in the Mediterranean region of Croatia. Geometric morphometrics (GMMs) were used to analyze the pronotum and abdomen shape variations and left–right asymmetries of each population. In respect to the FA measurements, analyzed species responded differently, with P. koyi displaying a lower intensity of FA than P. melas. On the other hand, P. melas beetles from vineyards showed a higher intensity of FA compared with populations from pristine habitats and olive groves. Accordingly, FA pointed out olive groves as potentially less adverse habitats to predatory carabids, keeping in mind the different levels of asymmetry between the two species. Our study singled out P.melas as a more suitable species for further research, in the effect that different agricultural practices can have their impact on non-target invertebrates analyzed by measuring the FA.


2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 1361-1368 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.B. Hassanpouraghdam ◽  
G.R. Gohari ◽  
S.J. Tabatabaei ◽  
M.R. Dadpour

In order to characterize the essential oils of leaves and inflorescences, water distilled volatile oils of hydroponically grown Ocimum basilicum L. were analyzed by GC/EI-MS. Fifty components were identified in the inflorescence and leaf essential oils of the basil plants, accounting for 98.8 % and 99.9 % of the total quantified components respectively. Phenylpropanoids (37.7 % for the inflorescence vs. 58.3 % for the leaves) were the predominant class of oil constituents, followed by sesquiterpenes (33.3 % vs. 19.4 %) and monoterpenes (27.7 % vs. 22.1 %). Of the monoterpenoid compounds, oxygenated monoterpenes (25.2 % vs. 18.9 %) were the main subclass. Sesquiterpene hydrocarbons (25 % vs. 15.9 %) possessed the main subclass of sesquiterpenoidal compounds as well. Methyl chavicol, a phenylpropane derivative, (37.2 % vs. 56.7 %) was the principle component of both organ oils, with up to 38 % and 57 % of the total identified components of the inflorescence and leaf essential oils, respectively. Linalool (21.1 % vs. 13.1 %) was the second common major component followed by ?-cadinol (6.1 % vs. 3 %), germacrene D (6.1 % vs. 2.7 %) and 1,8-cineole (2.4 % vs. 3.5 %). There were significant quantitative but very small qualitative differences between the two oils. In total, considering the previous reports, it seems that essential oil composition of hydroponically grown O. basilicum L. had volatile constituents comparable with field grown counterparts, probably with potential applicability in the pharmaceutical and food industries.


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