Spinosad - a case study: an example from a natural products discovery programme

Abstract

The discovery and characterization of the soil actinomycete, Saccharopolyspora spinosa, and the insecticidal metabolite spinosad is presented as a case history of a successful project emerging from a natural products crop protection discovery programme. A who, what and how approach is utilized to communicate the events around the discovery and development of the project. The companies and departments involved are listed with insight into their structure and philosophy. A detailed description of spinosad and its properties is also provided. Finally an overview is given of the various tasks required and hurdles that were overcome to bring the project to a commercial success.

The Side-Effect of Organic Insecticide Spinosad on Biochemical and Microbiological Properties of Clay Soil

“…1993]. Although such compounds tend to be water soluble, easily metabolized and non-bioaccumulatory, biogenic sourcing does not necessarily confer environmental acceptability [Thompson et al, 2000]. Therefore, assessment of environmental persistence, fate and toxicological properties, including stud-ies, is necessary for these compounds [Thompson et al, 2002].…”

Spinosad Adsorption on Humic and Clay Constituents of Lacustrine Egyptian Soils and Its Leaching Potential

“…Spinosyns are produced by fermentation of the actinomycete Saccharopolyspora spinosa Mertz and Yao isolated from a Caribbean soil sample (Bret et al, 1997). Spinosyns A and D are highly toxic to Diptera, Lepidoptera, Thysanoptera, and some species of Coleoptera, but they have extremely low toxicity for mammals; therefore, spinosad is classified by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency as a reduced-risk material (Thompson et al, 2000).…”

Efficacy of spinosad and abamectin against different populations of red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum Herbst) in treated wheat grain

“…Spinosad is a combination of spinosyn A and spinosyn D, secondary metabolites of the soil actinomycete Saccharopolyspora spinosa (Mertz and Yao) (Thompson et al, 2000;Copping and Duke, 2007), and it has a significan role in organic food growing (Hertlein et al, 2011). It has been registered in the US, Australia and some African countries for use in storage facilities at a dose of 1 mg/ kg (Subramanyam, 2006).…”