Technology
Receptors and Insecticidal Activity
Commercial synthetic chemical insecticides, though highly effective, share a major weakness: their limited modes of action. Most insecticides work through one of four metabolic pathways in insects. In fact, three-fourths of the insecticides marketed today are active at the same two sites. This is the cause of the high degree of cross-resistance seen in insect populations. Cross-resistance occurs when an insect population becomes resistant to an entire family of insecticides that work through a common pathway. Over 500 insect and mite populations are known to be resistant to one or more classes of insecticides.
Insecticides based on spider venom peptides circumvent the problems of resistance and cross-reactivity in conventional insecticides by targeting entirely new metabolic pathways. Vestaron researchers have identified three new modes of insecticidal action along with the active sites where the SV peptides work. All three are critical for insect survival and none is the target of currently marketed insecticides.