Agricultural pests cause more than $ 100 billion in crop losses per year. Traditional pesticides work but can be toxic. In addition, many chemicals applied to plants build up in soil, water, or food and negatively affect beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies.
Many harmful insects, weeds, viruses and phytopathogenic fungi have developed resistance to pesticides. Farmers have fewer and fewer options for environmentally friendly insect control.
For many years, farmers have used effective petroleum-based chemical pesticides in the form of neonicotinoids, pyrethroids, carbamates, and organophosphates. These substances kill everything, including beneficial insects, damage plants and remain in the environment for many years, degrading soil quality and polluting water resources.
GreenLight Biosciences is looking for alternative crop protection products to pesticides. The center of their research is RNA. In the course of the work, scientists discovered that if you inject dsRNA into a specific pathogen - for example, a bacterium - you can force the cells of the pathogen to destroy its own mRNA and prevent it from producing important proteins. In addition, scientists were able to establish a technology for disabling certain genes in pathogens.
Knowing this information, the researchers developed special RNA sprays that target a specific gene or gene combination of a pest. For example, GreenLight Biosciences is working on a spray that acts on the immune system of the cabbage moth. If over time the pest develops resistance to the spray, scientists can easily change the composition of the drug. RNA molecules can be used to regulate gene expression. Applying a safe RNA solution to plants will kill pests while keeping the plant healthy and minimizing environmental impact.
In addition, GreenLight Biosciences offers an RNA spray that inactivates the Colorado potato beetle. The spray is currently being tested by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The department will make the final decision in mid-2022.
Scientists are committed to providing farmers with safe, cost-effective and targeted biocontrols that stop pests while protecting crops, pollinators and land before and after harvest.