Abstract
Public concern over the risks associated with widespread use of insecticidal chemicals has motivated our efforts to develop safer and more effective approaches to pest control. Thus, natural insecticidal compounds derived from venomous animals may serve as rational alternatives. Venoms of arthropods such as scorpions, spiders, braconid and sphecid wasps, reduviid bugs and centipedes (Zlotkin, 1985) which prey on insects, possess anti-insect selective polypeptidic neurotoxins. Such toxins have already shown promise when incorporated into insect pathogens by enhancing their killing efficacy (Chejanovsky et al., 1995; Maeda et al., 1991; Stewart et al., 1991; Tomalski and Miller, 1991). These toxins bind to insect sodium channels (Gordon et al., 1992), modify their properties and disrupt normal neuromuscular functions leading to paralysis and death. Thus, the incorporation of anti-insect selective scorpion toxins into insecticidal microorganisms offers an opportunity to improve and augment current crop protection strategies (Maeda et al., 1991; Stewart et al., 1991; Tomalski and Miller, 1991). In order to minimize biological hazards which may be associated with such a genetic approach and to avoid the possibility of resistance build-up of insect pests, the molecular basis for anti-insect selectivity of these toxins should be clarified. Furthermore, usage of insecticidal toxins should be limited to those revealing the ‘animal group specificity’ phenomenon where a toxin shows activity against a given group of organisms and is not effective against other groups of organisms. In cases where a venomous organism feeds on a given limited group of animals, the ‘animal group specificity’ is manifested already on the level of the whole venom.
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Gurevitz, M. et al. (1997). Utilization of scorpion insecticidal neurotoxins and baculoviruses for the design of novel selective biopesticides. In: Rosen, D., Tel-Or, E., Hadar, Y., Chen, Y. (eds) Modern Agriculture and the Environment. Developments in Plant and Soil Sciences, vol 71. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5418-5_7
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