SBIR-STTR Award

Imported Fire Ants (Solenopsis richteri Solenopsis invicta) are invasive pests which currently infest over 140 million ha in 14 states. Damages related to fire ants have a significant impact on many economic sectors including agriculture and biodiversity. The estimated annual cost spent on fire ant control is 3 billion dollars. Current chemical insecticides used in fire ant control are not selective causing unnecessary ecological damage. RNAi represents a viable option for the selective and safe control of fire ants. However current RNAi triggers are polar have poor permeability across biomembranes and associate poorly with the oil in broadcast bait formulations. The overall goal of this project is to develop chemically modified RNAi triggers with enhanced delivery properties and oil solubility to yield bait formulations that show improved efficacy against RIFA in colonies. To attain this goal we will demonstrate that we can accomplish the following technical objectives: 1) Identify optimal combination of phenol ether moiety extent of the modification and concentration to yield high potency modified RNAi triggers (MdsRIFAs) 2) Identify oil soluble MdsRIFA candidates prepare bait formulations and test their stability and 3) Test the ability of the MdsRIFA bait formulation to induce RIFA lethality on a colony scale. The project will build on results from a prior NSF SBIR Phase I project and it will be conducted in collaboration with the Imported Fire and Household Insects Research Unit of the Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville Florida through a CRADA with the USDA.

The European spongy moth (Lymantria dispar dispar ) (ESM) is a non-native insect pest with larvae that feeds on leaves of over 300 broad-leaved species including forest shade ornamental and fruit trees as well as shrubs. The spongy moth defoliated over 98 million acres of U.S. forests from 1924 to 2018. Current biological insecticides used in spongy moth control have not been efficacious enough and chemical insecticides cause ecological damage. The ranking of the spongy moth as the third most expensive invasive insect in the world with an estimated annual 3.2 billion dollars cost just in North America is indicative of the impact of this lepidopteranpest. NanoSUR's demonstrated RNAi-based insecticides technology will result in the development of a selective affordable safe and effective insecticide suitable for the large-scale control of the ESM. In anticipation of a possible break out spread of the more devastating Asian Spongy Moth (ASM) we will also propose RNAi treatments designed to control it. The successful execution of this grant will provide an RNAi trigger formulation ready to initiate field testing in the forest. Thus we will accomplish our overall goal of creating a product for broad use in controlling ESM and eventually ASM that is effective environmentally friendly and safe to non-target organisms including other lepidoptera present in the forest such as the monarch butterfly. To accomplish this technical challenge we will build on prior research funded by NSF and USDA work in collaboration with the Beltsville USDA Agricultural Research Station.