Natural Metabolites as Biocontrol Agents of Insect Pests

A special issue of Insects (ISSN 2075-4450). This special issue belongs to the section "Insect Pest and Vector Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2025) | Viewed by 11005

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Chemical Ecology and Natural Products Laboratory, Institute of Biosciences and Applications, National Centre of Scientific Research “Demokritos”, Athens, Greece
Interests: natural products; chemical ecology; semiochemicals; microbial toxins; IPM; insect attractants; pheromones; kairomones; natural metabolites formulation; slow release sytems
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world population is constantly rising ergo the demand for food production in agriculture increases as well. Agricultural productivity needs to rise by 70% by 2050 to provide sufficient food for the growing population. At the same time, pests are responsible for most of the losses related to agricultural crops, either in the field or in storage. Their management necessitates the use of chemical pesticides but the extensive use of pesticides causes a number of serious problems, including health issues for humans and detrimental effects on non-target and beneficial organisms of the entomofauna, such as pollinators and natural enemies. In addition, quite often they lead to pest resurgence, the emergence of secondary pests, and resistant biotypes, and mandates the development of safer alternatives derived from natural products.

The replacement of toxic insecticides with safe alternative pest control products will have a positive impact on human health, the environment, and biodiversity. The reduction by half of the more hazardous pesticides by 2030 is at the core of the European Green Deal Biodiversity Strategy.

In order to replace or reduce chemical insecticides for the improvement of the quality of agricultural products, to minimize environmental degradation, and to preserve biodiversity, bioactive natural metabolites are considered a “green” alternative to synthetic insecticides. They can be cheap, biodegradable, and ecofriendly, and they act by several mechanisms of action, suggesting that they are less of a hazard to humans and the environment.

Natural metabolites with bioactivity toward insects include several classes of molecules such as terpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, polyphenols, cyanogenic glucosides, quinones, amides, aldehydes, etc.

In general, these compounds exert important physiological and behavioral functions, act as antifeedants, attractants, nematicides, fungicides, repellents, insecticides, semiochemicals, insect growth regulators, and allelopathic agents, and pose as promising sources for novel pest control agents or biopesticides.

This Special Issue will cover research aspects related to the bioactivity of natural metabolites on insect pests derived from plants, insects, and microorganisms, and how they can be incorporated into Integrated Pest Management systems (IPM) as efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly approaches for pest control replacing chemical insecticides.

Dr. Maria Konstantopoulou
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • natural metabolites
  • botanical insecticides
  • insect attractants
  • insect repellents
  • secondary metabolites
  • microbial toxins

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3019 KiB  
Article
Larvicidal Activity of Extracts from the Artemisia arborescens L. Plant and Hyrtios erectus Sponge Against the Culex pipiens Mosquito (Diptera: Culicidae) and Toxicological Assessment on Danio rerio Zebrafish Embryos as Non-Target Organism
by Sadeem A. Alqurashi, Ashraf M. Ahmed, Ali A. El Gamal, Shaza M. Al-Massarani, Omer A. Basudan, Diaa T. A. Youssef, Lamiaa A. Shaala and Muhammad Farooq Khan
Insects 2025, 16(5), 448; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16050448 - 24 Apr 2025
Viewed by 253
Abstract
There is a growing need for eco-friendly methods to control disease-carrying insects. The present study aimed to investigate the larvicidal activity of methanolic extracts and their various fractions from a plant, Artemisia arborescens L., and a marine sponge, Hyrtios erectus, against the [...] Read more.
There is a growing need for eco-friendly methods to control disease-carrying insects. The present study aimed to investigate the larvicidal activity of methanolic extracts and their various fractions from a plant, Artemisia arborescens L., and a marine sponge, Hyrtios erectus, against the mosquito, Culex pipiens L. Crude methanolic extracts of A. arborescens and H. erectus were prepared by maceration and successive fractionation were obtained using the liquid–liquid partition of crude extracts. The larvicidal activity of the extracts and their fractions was determined according to the WHO standard method. The results revealed that the n-hexane fraction of A. arborescens exhibited the highest larvicidal activity (LC50 346.74 μg/mL), exceeding the efficacy of the crude extract and other fractions. Furthermore, the sponge’s n-hexane (LC50 68.39 μg/mL), chloroform (LC50 63.03 μg/mL), and n-butanol (LC50 71.23 μg/mL) fractions showed a significant 3.9 to 4.5 times increase in the larvicidal potency compared to its crude extract (LC50 = 280.74 μg/mL). The safety of the sponge extracts was tested in the embryos of zebrafish as a non-target organism. In this regard, the crude methanolic extract and n-butanol fraction exhibited weak toxicity and chloroform fraction showed no detectable toxicity. This study suggests the H. erectus sponge as a source for developing safe natural substitutes for use in the battle against Cx. pipiens mosquito, which may help in reducing the spread of mosquito vectors and mosquito-borne diseases. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Metabolites as Biocontrol Agents of Insect Pests)
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27 pages, 6986 KiB  
Article
Genome-Wide Identification and Expression Profiling of Glycosidases, Lipases, and Proteases from Invasive Asian Palm Weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus
by Nazmi Harith-Fadzilah, Mohammad Nihad, Mohammed Ali AlSaleh, Abdulqader Yaslam Bazeyad, Subash-Babu Pandurangan, Kashif Munawar, Arya Vidyawan, Hattan A. Alharbi, Jernej Jakše, Arnab Pain and Binu Antony
Insects 2025, 16(4), 421; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16040421 - 17 Apr 2025
Viewed by 379
Abstract
The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, is a destructive, invasive pest to a diverse range of palm plantations globally. Commonly used broad-range chemical insecticides for insect control pose high risks to non-target organisms, humans, and the environment. A bio-rational approach of screening [...] Read more.
The red palm weevil, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, is a destructive, invasive pest to a diverse range of palm plantations globally. Commonly used broad-range chemical insecticides for insect control pose high risks to non-target organisms, humans, and the environment. A bio-rational approach of screening natural small-molecule inhibitors that specifically target R. ferrugineus proteins critical to its life processes can pave the way for developing novel bioinsecticides. Digestive enzymes (DEs), which impair feeding on plants (herbivory), are promising targets. We generated de novo transcriptomes, annotated DE-related genes from the R. ferrugineus gut and abdomen, manually annotated the DE gene family from the recently available genome and our transcriptome data, and reported 34 glycosidases, 85 lipases, and 201 proteases. We identified several tandem duplicates and allelic variants from the lipase and protease families, notably, 10 RferLip and 21 RferPro alleles, which emerged primarily through indels and single-site substitution. These alleles may confer enhanced digestive lipolysis and proteolysis. Phylogenetic analyses identified and classified different subfamilies of DEs and revealed close evolutionary relationships with other coleopterans. We assessed select candidate DEs’ activity and the potential for inhibition in silico to better understand the herbivory arsenal. In silico analysis revealed that the selected enzymes exhibited similar ligand-binding affinity to their corresponding substrate, except for protease aminopeptidase N, RferPro40, which exhibited poorer affinity to the inhibitor bestatin. Overall, our study serves as a foundation for further functional analysis and offers a novel target for the development of a novel bio-rational insecticide for R. ferrugineus. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Metabolites as Biocontrol Agents of Insect Pests)
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18 pages, 3733 KiB  
Article
Exploring the Potential Effectiveness of Croton tiglium Oil and Its Nano-Emulsion on Earias insulana (Lepidoptera: Nolidae)
by Karima S. Khater, Marwa M. Abd-Elrhmman, Zeinab M. E. A. Said, Ali A. El-Sayed, Abdelhadi A. I. Ali, Lamya Ahmed Alkeridis, Laila A. Al-Shuraym, Jingwen Wang, Qichun Zhang and Ahmed A. A. Aioub
Insects 2025, 16(1), 72; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects16010072 - 12 Jan 2025
Viewed by 1284
Abstract
Earias insulana Boisd. (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) is a major pest of cotton and other crops in Egypt, and the widespread use of insecticides has led to resistance. This study evaluates, for the first time, the bioactivity of Croton tiglium (Malpighiales: Euphorbiaceae) oil and its [...] Read more.
Earias insulana Boisd. (Lepidoptera: Nolidae) is a major pest of cotton and other crops in Egypt, and the widespread use of insecticides has led to resistance. This study evaluates, for the first time, the bioactivity of Croton tiglium (Malpighiales: Euphorbiaceae) oil and its nano-emulsion (CTNE) against 25 newly hatched larvae of E. insulana Boisd. We assessed their biological effects across different developmental stages and performed histological and ultrastructural examinations. Gas–liquid chromatography (GLC) identified several bioactive compounds in C. tiglium oil crushed dry seeds, including fatty acids, hydrocarbons, and sterols. CTNE showed excellent quality with a zeta potential of −17.7 mV, an average particle size of 54.28 nm, and spherical droplets of 42.42 nm in diameter. The LC50 values for C. tiglium oil and CTNE were 9.02% and 2.70%, respectively. Both treatments significantly impacted the biological characteristics of E. insulana Boisd., including reduced larval and pupal weight, lower adult emergence, decreased fecundity, and increased mortality. Histologically, there was epithelial cell hypotrophy and detachment, while ultrastructural damage included chromatin condensation, nuclear envelope folding, and mitochondrial damage, indicating apoptotic degeneration. These findings suggest C. tiglium oil and CTNE as potential, safe alternatives to chemical insecticides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Metabolites as Biocontrol Agents of Insect Pests)
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10 pages, 1169 KiB  
Article
Larvicidal Activity of Hemp Extracts and Cannabidiol against the Yellow Fever Mosquito Aedes aegypti
by Erick J. Martínez Rodríguez, P. Larry Phelan, Luis Canas, Nuris Acosta, Harinantenaina L. Rakotondraibe and Peter M. Piermarini
Insects 2024, 15(7), 517; https://doi.org/10.3390/insects15070517 - 10 Jul 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 7672
Abstract
To mitigate pyrethroid resistance in mosquito vectors of emerging and re-emerging human pathogens, there is an urgent need to discover insecticides with novel modes of action. Natural alternatives, such as extracts derived from plants, may serve as substitutes for traditional synthetic insecticides if [...] Read more.
To mitigate pyrethroid resistance in mosquito vectors of emerging and re-emerging human pathogens, there is an urgent need to discover insecticides with novel modes of action. Natural alternatives, such as extracts derived from plants, may serve as substitutes for traditional synthetic insecticides if they prove to be sustainable, cost-effective, and safe for non-target organisms. Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a sustainable plant known to produce various secondary metabolites with insecticidal properties, including terpenoids and flavonoids. The goal of this study was to assess the larvicidal activity of hemp leaf extract on mosquito larvae from both pyrethroid-susceptible (PS) and pyrethroid-resistant (PR) strains of Aedes aegypti. Another goal was to identify which components of the extract were responsible for any observed larvicidal activity. We found that a methanol extract of hemp leaves induced similar concentration-dependent larvicidal activity against PS (LC50: 4.4 ppm) and PR (LC50: 4.3 ppm) strains within 48 h. Partitioning of the leaf extract between methanol and hexane fractions revealed that full larvicidal activity was restricted to the methanol fraction. Analysis of this fraction by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance showed it to be dominated by cannabidiol (CBD). Larvicidal assays using authentic CBD confirmed this compound was primarily responsible for the toxicity of the hemp leaf extract against both strains. We conclude that hemp leaf extracts and CBD have the potential to serve as viable sources for the development of novel mosquito larvicides. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Metabolites as Biocontrol Agents of Insect Pests)
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