Team:Lund/Description

iGEM Lund 2019

Project Description

Welcome to our Project Description. We hope that you will learn about the problem that is P. infestans , and its potential solutions. If you want to know more about the details of our proposed solution, head over to our Project Design!

The Problem

Despite the advances from the green revolution and in genetic engineering, potato farmers and producers still struggle with a more than a hundred years old problem. Phytophthora infestans also known as late blight, is the major threat to potato harvests. It is an oomycete, causing rot in infected tubers. There is no cure for ongoing infections and P. infestans sporulate, making it imperative to prevent outbreaks in the long and short run. The current strategy is by heavy pesticide usage in preventative purposes.

It is a strategy adapted to the reality of the problem, since once the oomycete is discovered in the fields, it is already too late. However, it gives rise to disproportionate fungicide use and expenses. In the U.S it was estimated that the annual costs for fungicides are $77.1 million. In addition to the pesticide expenses, P. infestans caused damage worth $210.7 million due to crop loss in 2001 (J.F. GUENTHNER et al., 2001). More recently, USABlight estimates that 6.7 Billion dollars are lost annually. (usablight.org, 2020).

The heavy pesticide usage is clearly demonstrated in Sweden. Here, potatoes account for 2% of crop area, but for 21% of pesticide usage (M. Brus-Szkalej, 2019). Pesticides have been linked to world-wide deaths and chronic diseases, as well as the destruction of several plant and animal habitats (Md. Wasim Aktar et al, 2009, Impact of pesticides use in agriculture: their benefits and hazards). Taken together, the need for more efficient, environmentally friendly and non-hazardous pesticides is clear.

A further complication when it comes to preventing P. infestans is its plastic genome, meaning that it develops resistance to pesticides at a high rate. This gives that a preventative treatment favors multiple pesticides as well as interchangeable alternatives in case resistance to one compound is developed.

Inspiration

In 2015, the Taiwanese iGEM team from NYMU Taipei, developed a pipeline with three strategies for combating late blight. One of the strategies was by producing a plant defensin, which are antimicrobial compounds, called lm-def. Their experiments showed inhibitory effects and it inspired us to try and expand on their idea. A possible area of improvement would be the amount of different antimicrobial peptides, which we propose would create a stronger inhibitory effect as well as increase the stability to resistance of the treatment.

Our Goal

We aim to prove that a genetically modified biopesticide based on antimicrobial peptides can be a competitive, sustainable and ethically acceptable alternative to traditional pesticides and to draw attention to the general therapeutic potential of antimicrobial peptides. Through producing a cocktail of antimicrobial peptides together with a protease for fusion partner cleavage and a kill switch, we believe that this can be achieved.

References:

  • J. F. Guenthner, K. C. Michael & P. Nolte (2001), The economic impact of potato late blight on US growers, Potato research (44) p. 121-125. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02410098
  • A National Project on Tomato & Potato Late Blight. (n.d.). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from http://usablight.org/
  • M. Brus-Szkalej (2019), The biology and ecology of Phytophthora infestans (Doctoral dissertation, Institutionen för växtskyddsbiologi, Sveriges LantbruksUniversitet, Alnarp, Sweden), Retrieved from SLU Epsilon (Accession ID 16444).
  • W. Aktar, D. Sengupta, A. Chowdhury (2009), Impact of pesticides use in agriculture: their benefits and hazards, Interdisciplinary toxicology(2) p. 1-12. doi: 10.2478/v10102-009-0001-7