Structural Elements and Neuropharmacological Features Involved in the Insecticidal Properties of an Alpha Scorpion Neurotoxin: A Multidisciplinary Approach

Integrated pest management in modern crop protection requires the use of chemical or biological insecticides in many instances. Nontheless, the use non-selective chemical insecticides poses risks to the environment and livestock and consequently urgent need exists for safer alternatives, which target insects more specifically. Scorpions produce anti-insect selective polypeptide toxins that are biodegradable and not toxic to wam-blooded animals. Therefore, mobilization of these substances into insect pest targets is of major interest. Moreover, clarification of the molecular basis of this selectivity may provide valuable information pertinent to their receptor sites and to the future design of peptidomimetic anti-insect specific substances. These toxins may also be important for reducing the current overuse of chamical insecticides provided they have a synergistic effect with conventional pesticides. All of these objectives were addressed in this research. A direct approach for plant protection was the mobilization of toxins into target pests using baculoviral vectors. The other approach was to develop a suitable system enabling the elucidation of the toxin bioactive site, which would enable design of insecticidal peptidomimetics. In parallel, the mode of action and synergistic effects of scorpion insecticidal toxins, were studied at the sodium channel receptor site. All the above approaches show great promise and clearly indicate that scorpion insecticidal toxins may provide powerful means in insect pest control.