By Seema Singh
In search of greener pesticides, a team of biochemists at the Indian
Institute of Science (IISc) here, has discovered a new microorganism that
can produce large quantities of a popular bioinsecticide to fight pests,
which affect major crops in India, including cotton, wheat and maize. The
fungus, Aspergillus terreus, has been isolated from Indian soils.
It can produce spinosyns, one of the most popular bioinsecticides
today.

Multinational agrochemical firm, Dow AgroSciences Llc., has a global
monopoly on spinosyn.

?This is an alternate organism, which can produce spinosyn at a much
lower cost and with better efficacy,? said Ram Rajsekharan, a professor of
biochemistry at IISc, who led the research. He added that the bioinsecticide
is particularly effective against Helicoverpa armigera, a dreaded cotton
pest in India.

Dow produces spinosyn by the fermentation of a bacterium,
Saccharopolyspora spinosa, which was collected from soil in an abandoned rum
distillery on a Caribbean island.

?This is the most widely used product in its category and has a
worldwide market in excess of $1 billion (Rs3,977 crore),? said Venkatesh
Devanur, founder of AgriLife, a biopesticide company in Hyderabad, which
sells live microorganisms as spores for crop protection.

?Spinosyn has a very large opportunity both in Indian and overseas
market,? Devanur added, cautioning that the IISc research needs to be tested
in the field before it can be commercialized.

IISc researchers say that while they may have discovered the organism
serendipitously, they have since rigorously pursued the science to ensure
that its commercialization is not difficult.

?We are talking to ITC Ltd, but we are also open to other companies
exploring this research for Indian fields,? said Rajsekharan, who has filed
US and Indian patents after depositing the organism at the Institute of
Microbial Technology in Chandigarh, an international repository for patent
deposits.

What about talking to Dow?

If they do, ?the technology will get killed,? says Rajsekharan,
matter-of-factly.

The research and development head of Dow AgroSciences India Pvt. Ltd
in Mumbai said he was hearing about the development for the first time, and
declined to comment as he is not authorized to do so.

India loses about 30% of its crops to pests every year and of the 180
million ha of land under cultivation in the country, barely one-fourth is
protected against pests, according to Agrochemical Policy Group, an industry
body in New ­Delhi.

Biopesticides, which are active at low concentrations and degrade
quickly without harming the ecology, are rapidly becoming popular in the
country. ?Of the Rs3,500 crore Indian pesticide market, Rs2,000 crore is
insecticides, of which biopesticides are one of the fastest growing
segment,? said Devanur.

In terms of commercialization, synthesizing spinosyn from fungus is
not very ­expensive.

?The process technology used in fermenting bacteria is more expensive
than that used in fermenting fungus,? said C.S. Vivek Babu, a researcher at
Rajsekharan?s lab.

Moreover, he added, the bacterium produces 35mg of spinosyn in a litre
of fermentor (production medium of either glucose or sucrose), whereas the
fungus produces 150mg a litre of fermentor in its natural strain.

The quantity produced increases once the microbe is genetically
modified.

The fungus has a shorter life cycle and can produce spinosyn every
seventh day under optimum conditions, compared with the bacterium, which
takes 21 days to produce one batch of spinosyn.

Since the two organisms are similar genetically, researchers believe
any new property discovered for the bacterium would be applicable to the
fungus as well. For instance, a research group filed a US patent in July,
claiming that spinosyn accelerates wound healing in humans.

?This is encouraging as we can also test our product for human use,?
said Babu.
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