Project: Sustainable Bioproduction of Pheromones for Insect Pest Control in Agriculture

Acronym	SUSPHIRE (Reference Number: 109)
Project Topic	The aim of this project is to enable bio-based manufacturing of insect pheromones in plants and fungi for the sustainable control of insect pests of agriculture and horticulture. This builds on a proof-of-concept in which moth sex-pheromones were produced in plants. Some of the most aggressive pests of agriculture are insect larvae. Semiochemicals are chemicals emitted by insects for communication. The most widely known of these are sex pheromones, produced by virgin females to attract mates of the same species. Dispensing insect sex pheromones in plant production environments is used to trigger sexual confusion in the target species and prevent breeding, thereby providing a highly species-specific control method. This presents a sustainable alternative to conventional pesticides, the use of which are progressively being restricted due to concerns about their non-specificity and negative impacts on biodiversity. Insect sex pheromones are already used as a pest-control strategy; however, chemical synthesis is currently the only approach for manufacturing and the use of toxic ingredients and the creation of toxic by-products is inevitable for some pathways. Further, the unusual chemical characteristics of many insect pheromones mean that chemical synthesis is not cost effective. For example, Coccoidea species (scale insects and mealybugs) are aggressive pests of agriculture and horticulture and better control methods are highly desirable. However, their sex pheromones have unusual irregular terpenoid structures for which chemical synthesis is both difficult and expensive. The SUSPHIRE project aims for the bioproduction of insect sex pheromones in plants and fungi. Previous studies by SUSPHIRE partners demonstrated that it is possible to engineer N. benthamiana plants to produce high quantities of moth sex pheromones via heterologous expression of the insect enzymes. The SUSPHIRE project will improve on this initial proof-of-concept and will also identify and validate key biosynthetic enzymes for the bioproduction of Coccoidea pheromones. We will take a synthetic biology approach, informed by data obtained from bioinformatics and systems biology analyses, to identify and refactor insect pheromone biosynthesis pathways, optimizing bioproduction in plants and fungi. The SUSPHIRE project will demonstrate that biosynthesis can provide a sustainable, low-cost manufacturing platform for the commercial production of insect pheromones and reduce the cost of production of pheromones that are currently commercially non-viable. The long term aim is production of a living bio-dispenser but SUSPHIRE will produce several intermediate marketable products including pheromone-enriched biomass; bioproduced precursors that can be used to bypass unfavourable steps and reduce the cost of chemical synthesis; and enzymes to assist chemical synthesis of complex precursors. The introduction of these biotechnology approaches to pheromone production will expand the use of sex pheromones for sustainable pest control in agriculture, reducing its current environmental impact and providing sustainable manufacturing platforms.
Project Results (after finalisation)
Website	visit project website
Network	ERA CoBioTech
Call	ERA CoBioTech “Biotechnology for a sustainable bioeconomy”

Project partner

Number	Name	Role	Country
1	Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas	Coordinator	Spain
2	Earlham Institute	Partner	United Kingdom
3	Technische Universität Darmstadt	Partner	Germany
4	National Institute of Biology	Partner	Slovenia
5	ECOLOGIA Y PROTECCION AGRICOLA SL	Partner	Spain