Mode of action and pesticidal activity of the natural product dunnione and of some analogues

作者：Bhupinder P. S. Khambay, Duncan Batty, P. J. Jewess, Geoffrey L. Bateman, D. W. Hollomon · 发表于：Pest Management Science · 年份：2003 · DOI：10.1002/ps.632 · 被引用次数：58 · 研究领域：Insect Pest Control Strategies、Allelopathy and phytotoxic interactions、Insect-Plant Interactions and Control

This paper reports the investigation of the insecticidal and fungicidal activity of dunnione, a natural product obtained inadvertently as a by-product of a synthesis programme. Dunnione exhibits no insecticidal activity but has an unusually broad spectrum of antifungal activity. In vitro and in vivo (preventative) activities were comparable to those of several long-established fungicides (eg carbendazim). However, in whole-plant assays, its eradicant activity was unexpectedly low, probably due to poor dose-transfer from leaf surface to fungus. The level of residual activity appears to be influenced by the formulation. Finally, its potential as a lead structure was assessed, and several analogues synthesised which exhibited high activity in the in vitro assays. Mode-of-action studies revealed that dunnione exerts its action primarily through initiation of redox cycling. This contrasts to the activity of BTG 505, the biochemical/chemical precursor, which does not initiate redox cycling but instead exhibits both insecticidal and fungicidal activity by inhibiting mitochondrial Complex III.