Research will create topical biodefensive products to control weeds, pests and diseases

Embrapa Agroenergia, the company Everlasting and Embrapii began research into the development of biodefensive products for topical use that promise to stimulate the plant's own defense mechanism against attack by pests and pathogens. The strategy, known as interfering RNA (RNAi), will be developed in partnership with Embrapa Soja, Embrapa Milho e Sorgo and Embrapa Cassava e Fruticultura.

Interfering RNA technology is a natural mechanism responsible for gene silencing that acts on messenger RNA (mRNA). A double-stranded RNA molecule (dsRNA – double stranded RNA) which, when recognized by specific protein complexes in the cytoplasm of the target organism, causes mRNA degradation and/or translation inhibition. For agricultural use, this technology is programmed to inactivate specific genes in weeds, insect pests and diseases, associated with processes essential to their survival. 

“We will develop double-stranded RNA molecules with specificity to the pest or pathogen, embarking on delivered of the molecule”, explains Hugo Molinari, researcher at Embrapa Agroenergia and project leader.

Fernando Prezzotto, president of Semper, states that farmers are often unfairly accused of using agrochemicals, polluting the water table and killing non-target species. “In all my experience with farmers, distributors and cooperatives, I have never seen a producer willing to apply poison. What the farmer wants and needs is to protect his plantation from attacks by insects, fungi and other pests that can affect productivity”, says Prezzotto.

To do this, the farmer uses the best available on the market. “Until now, producers only had pesticides as an ‘trick up their sleeve’. But we are starting a revolution in which the incredible possibilities provided by modern biology will soon be available”, predicts the Semper executive.

Making a comparison, the technique that will be used mimics the plants' own defense system, which, when attacked, produces chemical substances to try to inactivate the enemy. “When the plant comes into contact with a virus, for example, it immediately acts to degrade the genetic material inserted by the foreign body, trying to block the disease with its own defense system”, explains researcher Hugo Molinari. “Plants and microorganisms have this mechanism, especially against virus attacks”, he adds.

To understand more about RNAi technology, watch the video “RNA interference: a new alternative for therapy in rheumatic diseases".

 

The main focus of the research is to develop biodefensive products that can be used on the main Brazilian crops: soybeans, corn and cotton. “Our project aims to develop biomolecules (dsRNAs) for exogenous (topical) application, that is, to spray the product on plants or pathogens”, says Molinari. The already sprayed organism would recognize the molecule and immediately shut down the target. “The way the technique is applied and used is innovative on the market. We simulated an agricultural pesticide, but without genetic modification and no toxicity”, adds the researcher. 
 
“Eco friendly” biodefenses should reach the market soon. “The technical team has already started working on different fronts, gathering biological material from target organisms”, says Molinari. The team responsible for the project is multidisciplinary and includes agronomists, biologists, pharmacists and experts in bioinformatics and nanotechnology. 
 
“In the near future, we will deliver to the farmer a technology that does not pollute, is non-toxic to humans and other species that are not the target of the product and that will not increase the cost of production. For this reason, we are happy to celebrate this partnership with Embrapa Agroenergia and jointly create cutting-edge technologies that will positively impact the lives of farmers and the environment”, celebrates the president of Semper.
 
It is worth remembering that transgenic beans, approved since 2011 by CTNBio, developed by Embrapa Genetic Resources and Biotechnology to control the golden mosaic virus, also used the RNAi technique.

The technique is the same as that used in vaccines against Covid-19

 The gene silencing technique using RNAi has been known since 2006, the year in which North American researchers Andrew Z. Fire and Craig C. Mello won the Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for understanding the mechanism. 
 
The experimental vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) developed by the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, and produced by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, uses the same technique. AZD 1222 uses the mRNA of another respiratory virus, an adenovirus (which infects chimpanzees), to inactivate it using genetic engineering procedures. The inactivated virus, or “viral vector”, enters human cells and is unable to replicate, carrying only the code for the production of antigens by the human body, a code that, it is believed, could be useful in combating Covid-19 . 
 
Another vaccine, the North American BNT 162, from the company Pfizer-Wyeth, also uses antiviral RNA technology. Both are in the human testing phase in Brazil.