Tracking Insecticidal Activity of Peptide-based Insecticide Across Insect Assays

Abstract

Insect control as well as insecticide resistance and management is essential to maintain and expand the agricultural industry. As such, the need for effective and safe insecticides is increasingly important as cases of insecticide resistance to chemical insecticides continue to rise.1 Vestaron is an emerging leader in the biopesticide industry, focusing on developing safe and effective products.2 Their first product on the market, Spear, is a novel peptide-based insecticide. Most recently Vestaron is developing a new product code-named 7304 as a Lepidoptera targeting insecticide. In this study I analyze the wildtype strain of peptide along with three mutants (Table I) across insect (Figure 1) injection and feeding assays to elucidate how key mutations to the original peptide increased the stability of 7304 in Lepidoptera guts.