Sustainable agriculture requires insecticides that are
selective
between insects and mammals and even between harmful and beneficial
insects. Lepidoptera includes the largest number of insect pests that
threaten crops, and Hymenoptera contains the natural enemies for these
pests. Discovery of lepidopteran-specific molecular targets is one
route to develop such selective pesticides. Group h chitinase (Chi-h)
is an ideal target for lepidopteran-specific insecticides because
it is only distributed in Lepidoptera and is critical to their molting
processes. This minireview focuses on the latest progress in developing
Chi-h as a lepidopteran-specific insecticide target. We describe the
biological function, crystal structure, and small-molecule inhibitors
of the enzyme. Notably, two unique pockets were discovered in the
crystal structure of Chi-h for the binding of the selective inhibitors,
phlegmacin B1 and lynamicin B. Moreover, lynamicin B was
found to exhibit significant insecticidal activity toward lepidopteran
pests but is harmless toward their natural enemies. These findings
are advancing the development of selective insecticides to meet the
needs of sustainable agriculture.
Tailoring the interaction between metal nanoparticles and support is of great significance in the development of efficient and economical non-platinum catalysts for electrocatalytic hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). In this study,...
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