Recently, the Tobacco Functional Components and Biosynthesis Innovation Team and the Tobacco Pests Green Prevention and Control Innovation Team of the Tobacco Research Institute of CAAS, have discovered a novel benzothiazole natural product with significant insecticidal activity. The research findings were published as a front cover in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry .

The fall armyworm, Spodoptera Frugiperda , has been listed as the top pest in the "Category I Crop Pest Inventory" by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China in 2020. The long-term abuse of chemical pesticides has led to the development of resistance genes in the fall armyworm, resulting in reduced control effectiveness. Biological control, characterized by its efficiency, safety, and environmental compatibility, has emerged as a new control measure. Among them, microbial natural products, with their novel structures, significant activity, and high "drug-likeness," have become a new research hotspot in agricultural biopharmaceuticals.

This research reported a new benzothiazole derivative (namely HBT) isolated from a tobacco-derived endophytic fungus Aspergillus  sp. Compared with the plant-derived pesticide matrine, HBT exhibited superior insecticidal activity against the fall armyworm. Further research revealed that HBT affects larval DNA replication, autophagy, and interferes with hormone biosynthesis. These findings not only expand the structural types of natural insecticides but also provide important theoretical support for the subsequent development of agricultural biopharmaceuticals with HBT as a lead compound.

This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Scientific and Technological Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Shandong Provincial Taishan Scholar Program, and major science and technology projects of the China National Tobacco Corporation.

Article link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jafc.4c07702

By Yuan Xiaolong (yuanxiaolong@caas.cn)