Lybrand DB, Xu H, Last RL, Pichersky E. How Plants Synthesize Pyrethrins: Safe and Biodegradable Insecticides.
TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE 2020;
25:1240-1251. [PMID:
32690362 PMCID:
PMC7677217 DOI:
10.1016/j.tplants.2020.06.012]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Revised: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 06/24/2020] [Indexed: 05/04/2023]
Abstract
Natural pyrethrin insecticides produced by Dalmatian pyrethrum (Tanacetum cinerariifolium) have low mammalian toxicity and short environmental persistence, providing an alternative to widely used synthetic agricultural insecticides that pose a threat to human health and the environment. A recent surge of interest in the use of pyrethrins as agricultural insecticides coincides with the discovery of several new genes in the pyrethrin biosynthetic pathway. Elucidation of this pathway facilitates efforts to breed improved pyrethrum varieties and to engineer plants with improved endogenous defenses or hosts for heterologous pyrethrin production. We describe the current state of knowledge related to global pyrethrum production, the pyrethrin biosynthetic pathway and its regulation, and recent efforts to engineer the pyrethrin pathway in diverse plant hosts.
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