Periodic Reporting for period 3 - OLEFINE (OLEAginous yeast platforms for FINE chemicals)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-01-01 bis 2022-06-30
The technologies developed in OLEFINE enable wide-spread use of pheromones, which can substitute insecticides in agricultural pest management. With the global population expected to exceed 9 billion by 2050, and concerns growing over the unsustainability of chemical insecticides use, there is a need for safe eco-friendly alternatives for crop protection. Until recently, pheromones were exclusively produced by chemical synthesis from petroleum-derived chemicals and were too expensive to compete with conventional insecticide spays. Consequently, despite the decades of research demonstrating the efficacy and sustainability of pheromone-based pest control techniques, they could only address niche markets, such as protection of high-value fruits and vegetables, including the organic produce. OLEFINE has removed this barrier to wide application of pheromones, also for row crops, by creating a novel technology for efficient low-cost production of pheromones by yeast fermentation.
OLEFINE has successfully demonstrated the techno-economic viability and sustainability of biologically produced insect pheromones as safe and environmentally friendly insecticide substitutes. Bio-based process overcome the limitations of the current production of pheromones by chemical synthesis from petrochemical feedstocks. As the result, the pheromones can now be produced at a reduced cost and with low environmental footprint, and are beginning to revolutionize the pest control in agriculture and forestry. The global market for pheromone-based Integrated Pest Management (IPM) products is at €1.6 billion per annum and growing rapidly, but market growth is limited by the high price of chemically produced pheromones. Biological production of cheaper pheromones is a market disrupting technology that allows rapid expansion of pheromone-based pest management products.
OLEFINE has successfully demonstrated the techno-economic viability and sustainability of biologically produced insect pheromones as safe and environmentally friendly insecticide substitutes. Bio-based process overcome the limitations of the current production of pheromones by chemical synthesis from petrochemical feedstocks. As the result, the pheromones can now be produced at a reduced cost and with low environmental footprint, and are beginning to revolutionize the pest control in agriculture and forestry. The global market for pheromone-based Integrated Pest Management (IPM) products is at €1.6 billion per annum and growing rapidly, but market growth is limited by the high price of chemically produced pheromones. Biological production of cheaper pheromones is a market disrupting technology that allows rapid expansion of pheromone-based pest management products.
OLEFINE consortium has developed highly efficient yeast strains and fermentation processes for the production of several Lepidoptera pheromones. The activity of biological pheromones has been tested in laboratory and field experiments, and it was shown that the activity is equivalent to the chemically synthesized pheromones. There has also been significant progress towards identification and optimization of pathways to other target pheromones including establishment of the relevant insect colonies, elucidation of enzymes in the production pathways, screening and optimization of enzymes and implementation of the pathways in the production platform strain. The project has also established the relevant technology platforms needed to develop pheromone production processes ranging from genomic characterization of the platform strains to high throughput enzyme activity screening methods, and to tools for testing the efficacy of the pheromone products. Finally, the project has evaluated the economic and environmental sustainability of pheromone production and application in agriculture.
OLEFINE project has developed a novel technology for pheromone production via microbial fermentation and demonstrated the efficacy of fermented pheromones in the field. As the next step, OLEFINE partners are dedicated to bringing pheromone-based products to the market. For availability of the commercial products or product samples, the websites of the partners can be consulted.
The wide implementation of pheromones for pest control will have far reaching environmental benefits and socio-economic impacts through reducing the health risks to the farmer and improving the food security.
The wide implementation of pheromones for pest control will have far reaching environmental benefits and socio-economic impacts through reducing the health risks to the farmer and improving the food security.