Insect neuropeptides (NPs) and their G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been considered biological targets for insect pest management because they are involved in many essential biological processes during insect life stages. The discovery of new insecticides is a long high-risk process with a low probability of success. A key roadblock to success has been how expensive chemistries can be efficiently screened for identifying active compounds. We developed a novel GPCR-based screening technology that uses libraries of short peptides generated by bacteriophages using an insect cell expression system. The novel short peptides, as agonists or antagonists, could interfere with the target GPCR-ligand functions. We refer to this technology as “Receptor interference” (RECEPTORi). In this talk, I briefly introduce the proof-of-concept technology with a few pest examples tested with red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), gray garden slug (Deroceras reticulatum), western flower thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis), and spotted-wing drosophila (Drosophila suzukii). The GPCR-based bioactive peptide screening method offers multiple advantages and facilitates the development of target-specific green pesticides using NPs and GPCRs.
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