Award details

Circumventing pesticide resistance through chemistry-led approaches

Reference	BBS/E/C/00004192
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Bhupinder Pall Singh Khambay
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	768,002
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/1999
End date	30/04/2006
Duration	85 months

Abstract

Pests are a serious problem in agriculture and health care world-wide. It is widely acknowledged that chemical control will play a major role for the foreseeable future. However, there are concerns about the impact of pesticides on the environment and on non-target organisms. Newer classes of pesticides meet these challenges but their long-term effectiveness in the field is threatened by the development of resistance in pests. Therefore, there is a need both to prolong the usefulness of established classes and to continue to search for new ones with novel modes of action. Investigation of both these aspects is based here on chemistry-led approaches using natural compounds (which entails bioassay-directed isolation and characterisation) and their synthetic analogues to examine relationships between the molecular structures of bio-active compounds and their activities (both in vitro and in vivo against susceptible and resistant species). It complements other projects within Rothamsted (investigating insect ecology, population genetics and molecular biology and biochemistry and elsewhere (numerous institutes in UK and abroad). It also exploits long-standing expertise in insect rearing and bioassay and the availability of a unique library of strains with well-characterised resistance mechanisms. The aims include: 1. Understanding and exploiting the consequences of resistance mechanisms, especially at the molecular level. 2. Identification of novel modes of action in bio-active compounds, especially from natural sources, and evaluation of their suitability as target sites This aspect of the work relies on collaboration with institutes both within UK and overseas. The multi-disciplinary techniques used provide good opportunities for training, attracting student and graduate overseas workers. The potential for wealth creation in this area is illustrated by its historical link with the discovery of the synthetic pyrethroids.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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