Ureases as pesticides

FRUTTERO LL; MOYETTA NR; COSTE GRAHL, M.V.; MARTINELLI, A.H.S.; LOPES, F.C.

Foundations and Frontiers in Enzymology Series. Ureases, Functions, Classes, and Applications

Academic Press

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2024; p. 375 - 400

Plants are susceptible to abiotic and biotic stresses. Regarding biotic stress, microorganisms and insects are very important causes of damage, causing severe economic losses. There are several strategies to combat these pests and the most common approach nowadays is the use of synthetic pesticides. However, there are many disadvantages of using this type of pest control. Ureases are multifunctional enzymes produced by plants, bacteria, and fungi that can be an important weapon against pests. Plant and microbial ureases and derived peptides (Jaburetox and Soyuretox) present antimicrobial and insecticidal activities in in vitro studies. In addition, transgenic plants expressing Jaburetox and Soyuretox are toxic to insects and nematodes, and the silenced urease soybean plant was more susceptible to fungi. Considering ureases are not toxic to humans and also the derived peptides are not toxic to mammal’s cells and zebra fish models, there is an interesting potential to use ureases as a biotechnological tool to construct new transgenic plants superexpressing ureases/derived peptides to improve plant defense.