Natural Phytotoxins as Scaffolds for Development of Novel Herbicides

A special issue of Plants (ISSN 2223-7747). This special issue belongs to the section "Phytochemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 5607

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
Department of Phytotoxicology and Biotechnology, All-Russian Research Institute of Plant Protection, 196608 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Interests: mycoherbicides; phytotoxins; natural herbicides; insecticidal properties of fungal plant pathogens; mycotoxin
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue is planned to demonstrate advances in the development of new environmentally friendly herbicides using natural phytotoxins as their prototypes. 

Weeds are a permanent component of anthropogenic ecosystems, and strict control is required in order to avoid the accumulation of their long-lasting seeds in the soil. With high infestation of crops, many elements of crop production technologies (fertilization, use of highly productive varieties, growth promoters, etc.) lose their practical value due to high yield losses. Therefore, the volumes of use of chemical herbicides (CHs) are several times higher than other agrochemicals for plant protection. However, intensive CH use leads to undesirable consequences: contamination of soil and water, accumulation of CH residues in the food, the emergence of CH-resistant populations of weeds, etc. In this regard, the development of environmentally low-risk herbicides with new mechanisms of action is relevant. Natural phytotoxins of plant or microbial origin may serve as prototypes of such compounds.

The aim of the proposed Special Issue is to determine the potential of natural phytotoxins as a scaffolds for the development of new herbicidal active ingredients. The following topics are of special interest:

1) New biotechnological approaches for production of natural phytotoxins;

2) The synthesis of their more active and stable derivatives;

3) The mechanisms of herbicidal action of the most promising substances;

4) Toxicological aspects of natural or semi-natural herbicides;

5) Prospective formulations and efficacy of natural/semi-natural herbicides.

This Special Issue would make a marked contribution to the development of new herbicides in demand on the world market.

Dr. Alexander Berestetskiy
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • phytotoxins
  • fungi
  • plants
  • bacteria
  • biotechnology
  • semisynthesis
  • weed control
  • herbicide
  • toxicology
  • action mechanisms
  • formulation
  • field efficacy

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

24 pages, 1787 KiB  
Review
Modern Approaches for the Development of New Herbicides Based on Natural Compounds
by Alexander Berestetskiy
Plants 2023, 12(2), 234; https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12020234 - 4 Jan 2023
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 5102
Abstract
Weeds are a permanent component of anthropogenic ecosystems. They require strict control to avoid the accumulation of their long-lasting seeds in the soil. With high crop infestation, many elements of crop production technologies (fertilization, productive varieties, growth stimulators, etc.) turn out to be [...] Read more.
Weeds are a permanent component of anthropogenic ecosystems. They require strict control to avoid the accumulation of their long-lasting seeds in the soil. With high crop infestation, many elements of crop production technologies (fertilization, productive varieties, growth stimulators, etc.) turn out to be practically meaningless due to high yield losses. Intensive use of chemical herbicides (CHs) has led to undesirable consequences: contamination of soil and wastewater, accumulation of their residues in the crop, and the emergence of CH-resistant populations of weeds. In this regard, the development of environmentally friendly CHs with new mechanisms of action is relevant. The natural phytotoxins of plant or microbial origin may be explored directly in herbicidal formulations (biorational CHs) or indirectly as scaffolds for nature-derived CHs. This review considers (1) the main current trends in the development of CHs that may be important for the enhancement of biorational herbicides; (2) the advances in the development and practical application of natural compounds for weed control; (3) the use of phytotoxins as prototypes of synthetic herbicides. Some modern approaches, such as computational methods of virtual screening and design of herbicidal molecules, development of modern formulations, and determination of molecular targets, are stressed as crucial to make the exploration of natural compounds more effective. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Natural Phytotoxins as Scaffolds for Development of Novel Herbicides)
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