Abstract
Simple SummaryThe invasive seaweed Asparagopsis armata has the potential to be used as a biopesticide. The application of its exudate shows severe impacts on energetic and carotenoid metabolism and induces significant oxidative stress in a model weed. This points to the potential use of this macroalga as a resource for a biopesticide cocktail, for sustainable and eco-friendly weed control and as a substitute for the chemical pesticides widely used nowadays.Marine macroalgae have been increasingly targeted as a source of bioactive compounds to be used in several areas, such as biopesticides. When harvesting invasive species, such as Asparagopsis armata, for this purpose, there is a two-folded opportunity: acquiring these biomolecules from a low-cost resource and controlling its spreading and impacts. The secondary metabolites in this seaweed’s exudate have been shown to significantly impact the physiology of species in the ecosystems where it invades, indicating a possible biocidal potential. Considering this in the present work, an A. armata exudate cocktail was applied in the model weed Thellungiella halophila to evaluate its physiological impact and mode of action, addressing its potential use as a natural biocide. A. armata greatly affected the test plants’ physiology, namely, their photochemical energy transduction pathway (impairing light-harvesting and chemical energy production throughout the chloroplast electron transport chain), carotenoid metabolism and oxidative stress. These mechanisms of action are similar to the ones triggered when using the common chemical pesticides, highlighting the potential of the A. armata exudate cocktail as an eco-friendly biopesticide.
Highlights
Due to the demand for higher agricultural productivity to supply a growing population worldwide, pesticides and agrochemicals, in general, became a paramount component of global agriculture systems over the last century [1]
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The cocktail of the exudate produced by the red seaweed A. armata induces a high degree of stress when applied in plants, sharing several effects and modes of action with several major synthetic biocides, which impair several aspects mostly related to the plant energetic metabolism, with severe reductions in the chloroplastidial electron transport and consequent reduction of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) generation and CO2 harvesting, eventually leading to plant death
Summary
Due to the demand for higher agricultural productivity to supply a growing population worldwide, pesticides and agrochemicals, in general, became a paramount component of global agriculture systems over the last century [1]. In the last decades, agrochemical residues spread in the environment, causing the contamination of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems [2], with significant effects on wildlife in all the ecosystem compartments [3,4]. Several aspects highlight biopesticides as safe alternatives to classical synthetic solutions, with lower environmental risk at the top of the list of advantages [6]. These bio-solutions can come from a wide variety of organisms, with several products already being released and registered in the agromarket [6]. The natural origin of these products has boosted the public acceptance of biopesticides, promoting their increased use worldwide [7]
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