Bayer: Science For A Better Life - research

New insecticidal mechanism of action discovered

In a class of its own

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Crop protection research: numerous test series were necessary before the scientific team of (left to right) Dr. Ulrich Ebbinghaus-Kintscher, Dr. Peter Lümmen, Dr. Rüdiger Fischer and Dr. Klaus Raming managed to optimize a substance that exerts a selective action against insect pests like the tobacco budworm.

When insects infest vegetable, fruit or cotton plantations, they often leave behind only stems that have been picked clean of their foliage. The caterpillar of the tobacco budworm is particularly dreaded: in the United States alone, this voracious insect with the scientific name Heliothis virascens decimates crops worth a quarter of a billion dollars every year.

Successful against resistant insects too
The caterpillar has also developed resistance against many conventional insecticides. Scientists at Bayer CropScience have now discovered a new mechanism of action that can even get to grips with the tobacco budworm, however.

The substance flubendiamide is literally in a class of its own. It binds to a protein in insect cells that has never been targeted by a crop protection agent before. Read the following article to find out more about its unique mechanism of action.