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Abstract Detail



Biological Control of diseases and weeds (CFBC)

Kuai, Xiahezi [1], Despres, Charles [2].

Target-based approach for the development of new mode-of-action crop protection chemicals.

Crop protection is at the heart of our sustainable food, feed and fiber productions. With a steadily growing human population, projected to reach 9 billion by 2050, food security is a global and vital challenge that must be addressed. Every year, crop yield is lost due to diseases caused by pathogens. The high crop yield and quality to which we are accustomed today, and that will be required to sustain our growing population, are only possible through the combined use, in modern agriculture, of improved cultivars, fertilizers, and agrochemicals. To add to the challenges faced by agriculture, regulatory bodies and consumers are demanding stricter regulatory safety margins, environmentally safer agrochemicals and practices, and low-cost goods, while at the same time the specter of pathogen resistance to agrochemicals is mounting. The emergence of fungicide resistance only requires that very simple mutations occur in a given pathogen population. Consequently, it is imperative that anti-resistance strategies, based on the use of agrochemicals with different modes-of-action (MOA), be employed to protect and extend the life of conventional fungicides. Systemic acquired resistance (SAR) is a broad-spectrum and "whole-plant" resistance response that is analogous to the innate immune system found in animals. SAR is the most agronomically relevant type of plant immunity, and its deployment requires the build-up of endogenous salicylic acid (SA). The NPR1 protein is the central regulator of plant immunity, orchestrating SA-dependent resistance against biotrophic pathogens and necrotrophs with biotrophic phases. The DesprĂ©s lab recently identified and characterized NPR1 as the salicylic acid (SA) receptor in plants (Wu et al., Cell Rep. 2012, 1: 639). In addition, we discovered that NPR1 is also the receptor for benzo(1,2,3)thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH), a synthetic compound that like SA stimulates a plant’s own immune response. BTH is the active ingredient in Actigard®, a commercial product developed by a Syngenta legacy company and sold in North America. We are currently developing a proprietary target-based screening technology platform, to assist the agrochemical industry identify new MOA molecules. We will showcase some of the primary and secondary screening procedures that we employ.


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1 - Brock University, Biotechnology, 500 Glenridge Ave, Biotechnology, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2S 3A1, Canada
2 - Brock University, Biological Sciences, 500 Glenridge Ave., St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada

Keywords:
Crop protection chemicals
Target-based approach
chemical screening.

Presentation Type: Poster:Posters for Topics
Session: P
Location: Hall D/The Shaw Conference Centre
Date: Monday, July 27th, 2015
Time: 5:30 PM
Number: PDW003
Abstract ID:1173
Candidate for Awards:None


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