Insect Control: Biological and Synthetic Agents - Index of

384 A10: Addendum
cysteine protease expressing construct (HearNPVcathL)
of Sun et al. (2009) was designed to protect
cotton against larval cotton bollworm, a species that
has developed resistance to chemical and/or Bacillus
thuringiensis insecticides. Sun et al. conducted field
trials with this construct in 2004 and 2005 in China
and found that the efficacy of HearNPV-cathL is
similar to that of pyrethroid insecticide (l-Cyhalothrin)
treatment in terms of cotton boll protection
against the bollworm. In addition, they found that
the density of beneficial insects, such as lady beetles,
was similar between baculovirus-treated and untreated
plots and higher than that found in pyrethroid
insecticide-treated plots in the 2005 field
trial. Applications for commercial sale of GM baculoviruses
for the protection of cotton against Helicoverpa
were submitted to the government in China
but the government has yet to respond (Prof. Bryony
Bonning, personal communications).
During the past 5 years, several primary studies
investigated optimal and innovative production
methodologies of natural and GM baculoviruses in
both cultured insect cells (Salem and Maruniak,
2007; Micheloud et al., 2009) and insect larvae
(Lasa et al., 2007a; van Beek and Davis, 2007).
The importance of optical brighteners (Lasa et al.,
2007b; Ibargutxi et al., 2008) and feeding stimulants
(Lasa et al., 2009) on baculovirus formulations
were also investigated. Other studies evaluated use
of baculoviruses for the protection of nonmajor
food crops and in situations where traditional chemical
insecticides are not acceptable (Prater et al.,
2006; Kunimi, 2007; Grzywacz et al., 2008; Sciocco
et al., 2009). These studies continue to emphasize
that natural and potentially GM baculoviruses are
particularly valuable under conditions where traditional
chemical insecticides have become ineffective,
economically prohibitive, or have lost favor with the
general public. Use of the baculovirus delayed early
39K or very late p10 promoters to drive foreign gene
expression in mammalian CHO cells, an indicator
of potential safety, has been further investigated by
Regev et al. (2006). Studies have also further
addressed the competitive fitness and within-host
fitness of GM baculoviruses in which the endogenous
egt gene has been deleted (Zwart et al., 2009).
Use of GM baculoviruses for evaluating genes
that are useful for insect control will certainly continue.
For commercial development, though, sustained
and coordinated public and/or private
efforts such as those of the Sun and Hu groups
at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China are
needed. The GM baculovirus construct developed
by DuPont is another example of efficacy that can
be obtained with a coordinated effort to optimize
toxin, expression, virus, production, formulation,
and other strategies (Dr. Nikolai van Beek, personal
communications). Unfortunately, the DuPont virus
and data on its evaluation are not in the public
domain. Work of the past 5 years continues to
show that both natural baculoviruses and GM baculoviruses
hold clear and substantial benefits for crop
protection. Advantages of green pesticides, in particular
biopesticides that can be produced locally,
are most obvious in developing countries where
older and more dangerous pest control materials
are often used and where high costs of both modern
pesticides and GM plants are often prohibitive.
Since many technologies for production and use
of natural and GM baculoviruses are common,
increased use of natural baculoviruses may open
doors to the use of GM baculoviruses. GM baculoviruses
remain a viable alternative to classical chemical
pesticides and GM crops. These viruses should
be utilized if alternative methods of pest insect control
are required because of resistance, high cost,
and changes in the regulatory environment or public
opinion.
Acknowledgments
This work was funded in part by a grant
#2007–35607–17830 from the USDA. We thank
Drs. Bryony Bonning and Nikolai van Beek for
insightful discussions.
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