Novel Advances with Plant Saponins As Natural Insecticides to Control Pest Insects Ellen De Geyter1,2 • Ellen Lambert2 • Danny Geelen2 • Guy Smagghe1*
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Pest Technology ©2007 Global Science Books Novel Advances with Plant Saponins as Natural Insecticides to Control Pest Insects Ellen De Geyter1,2 • Ellen Lambert2 • Danny Geelen2 • Guy Smagghe1* 1 Laboratory of Agrozoology, Department of Crop Protection, 2 Department of Plant Production, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium Corresponding author : * [email protected] ABSTRACT Saponins are a class of secondary plant metabolites with diverse biological properties. They occur in a great number of plant species (mainly Angiosperms), both wild plants and cultivated crops. Triterpenoid saponins are mostly found in dicotyledonous species, while many of the major steroidal saponins are synthesized by monocots, such as members of the Liliaceae, Dioscoraceae and Agavaceae families. Many legumes contain saponins, such as soybeans, beans, peas, tea, spinach, sugar beet and quinoa, oats, capsicum peppers, aubergine, tomato seed, alliums and asparagus. Saponins possess clear insecticidal activities: they exert a strong and rapid-working action against a broad range of pest insects that is different from neurotoxicity. The most observed effects are increased mortality, lowered food intake, weight reduction, retardation in development and decreased reproduction. According to the main hypotheses in literature, saponins exert a repellent/deterrent activity, bear digestive problems, provoke insect moulting defects or cause cellular toxicity effects. As a con- sequence these interesting plant components open new strategies to protect crops in modern agriculture and horticulture with integrated pest management (IPM) programs against pest insects, either by spraying, or by selecting high-saponin varieties of commercial crops. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Keywords: crop protection, insects, insecticide (insecticidal activity), mechanism (of action), (occurrence in) plants, structural diversity Abbreviations: 20E, 20-hydroxyecdysone; EcR, ecdysteroid receptor; FPP, farnesyl diphosphate; IPM, integrated pest management; IPP, isopentenyl diphosphate; MEP, methyl-erythritol; MVA, mevalonate CONTENTS INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................................................................ 96 SAPONINS IN THE PLANT KINGDOM................................................................................................................................................... 97 Biosynthesis of saponins and diversity in structure ................................................................................................................................. 97 Occurrence of saponins in cultivated crops in agriculture and horticulture............................................................................................. 98 Saponins in cereals and grasses........................................................................................................................................................... 98 Saponins in other economically important crops ................................................................................................................................ 98 POTENCY OF SAPONINS TO REDUCE INSECT DAMAGE ................................................................................................................. 99 Data from the laboratory and the field..................................................................................................................................................... 99 Alfalfa (Medicago sativa) ................................................................................................................................................................... 99 Other plants....................................................................................................................................................................................... 100 In the field......................................................................................................................................................................................... 101 Influence from insects on plant saponin content ............................................................................................................................... 101 Exploitation of plant saponins by insects for own defence ............................................................................................................... 101 Examples of use against insects............................................................................................................................................................. 102 Dead-end cropping............................................................................................................................................................................ 102 Vector control.................................................................................................................................................................................... 102 Protection of stored products ............................................................................................................................................................ 102 MECHANISMS UNDERLYING THE ACTION AGAINST INSECTS ................................................................................................... 102 Repellent or deterrent activity ............................................................................................................................................................... 102 Slowing down the passage of food through the gut ............................................................................................................................... 102 Blocking sterol uptake........................................................................................................................................................................... 102 Antagonistic or competitive activity on the ecdysteroid reporter complex............................................................................................ 103 Membrane-permeabilising abilities ....................................................................................................................................................... 103 Other aspects ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 103 CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE PERSPECTIVES ................................................................................................................................. 103 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 103 REFERENCES........................................................................................................................................................................................... 103 _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION species have developed resistance against most current insecticide groups, implying a high demand for novel insec- In agriculture and horticulture, insect pests are a very im- ticide targets. So many scientists in industry and academia portant factor of loss. As an average, they account for 20- are currently trying to obtain useful compound from plants 30% of loss of production, but in some cases they provoke a as new, natural insecticides. A possibly interesting class of total loss. In addition, many populations of already >550 molecules are the saponins, a group of steroidal or triterpe- Received: 30 September, 2007. Accepted: 8 November, 2007. Invited Review Pest Technology 1(2), 96-105 ©2007 Global Science Books noid secondary plant metabolites with divergent biological activities. This chapter describes the novel advances of saponins in important corps in agriculture and horticulture. Acetyl-CoA To understand plant saponins, we start with the structural Acetoacetyl-CoA diversity of saponins and their occurrence in the plant king- dom. Then, we review the potencies of saponins as natural Hydroxymethylglutharyl-CoA insecticides to control important pest insects with some practical examples from the lab and the field where sapo- Mevalonate nins were able to reduce plant damage, and in a third part we overview the mechanisms underlying the insecticide Mevalonate-5-P activity. At the end we conclude with useful future perspec- tives to employ saponins as novel natural tactics in integ- Mevalonate-5-PP rated pest management (IPM) to control pest insects, which fit in modern agriculture and horticulture. Isopentenyl-PP Dimethylallyl-PP SAPONINS IN THE PLANT KINGDOM Geranyl-PP Biosynthesis of saponins and diversity in Farnesyl-PP structure Terpenes constitute a distinct class of natural products. With Farnesol Squalene over 30,000 entities being structurally identified, they also represent the largest family of natural compounds (Sacchet- Farnesal Oxidosqualene tini and Poulter 1997). They are derived from units of iso- prene, which have the molecular formula (C5H8)n. Terpene Farnesoic biosynthesis is, however, a complicated process mediated by two biosynthetic pathways. In eukaryotes,