• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.65-74
• /
• 2005

Fungicidal, insecticidal, and mosquito larvicidal activities of piperidine alkaloids, pipernonaline and piperoctadecalidine, and isobutylamide alkaloids, pellitorine, guineensine, pipercide, and retrofractaminde A, derived from Piperaceae fruits were studied. Pipernonaline and piperoctadecalidine showed potent fungicidal activities against Puccinia recondita with 91 and 80% control values at 500 ppm. Against Phytophthora infestans, pipernonaline showed strong fungicidal activity with 91 and 80% control values at 1,000 and 500 ppm. $LD_{50}$ values of pipernonaline and piperoctadecalidine against Plutella xylostella were 125 and 95.5 ppm, respectively, and that of piperoctadecalidine against Tetranychus urticae was 246 ppm. Against larvae of Aedes aegypti and Culex pipiens pallens, $LD_{50}$ values of pipernonaline were 0.35 and 0.21 ppm, respectively. Highest larvicidal activities of pipercide and retrofractamide A were found against A. aegypti, A. togoi, and C. pipiens pallens. $LD_{50}$ values of pipercide and retrofractamide A were 0.10 and 0.039 ppm against A. aegypti, 0.26 and 0.01 ppm against A. togoi, and 0.004 and 0.028 ppm against C. pipiens pallens, respectively. Based upon these results and earlier findings, bioactive components derived from Piperaceae fruits may be valuable for development of useful lead product of possibly safer fungicidal, insecticidal, and mosquito larvicidal agents.

• Natural Product Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.3
• /
• pp.174-176
• /
• 2003

Studies on the stem bark extracts of Garcinia cuneifolia have furnished a new xanthone cuneifolin (1) and the triterpene stigmasterol (2). Structures for these compounds were elucidated based on NMR, 2D NMR, MS and GCMS data. Larvicidal activity screening of the crude bark extract using the larvae of Aedes aegypti indicated the larvae to be susceptible to these extracts. $LC_{50}$ values of the bioassays show the extracts to be moderately toxic to the larvae of Aedes aegypti.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Entomolohy Conference
• /
• 2001.11a
• /
• pp.149-149
• /
• 2001

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.44 no.10
• /
• pp.674-679
• /
• 2011

Bacillus sphaericus produces mosquito-larvicidal binary toxin composed of BinA and BinB. While BinB is expected to bind to a specific receptor on the cell membrane, BinA interacts to BinB or BinB receptor complex and translocates into the cytosol to exert its activity via unknown mechanism. To investigate functional roles of aromatic cluster in BinA, amino acids at positions Y213, Y214, Y215, W222 and W226 were substituted by leucine. All mutant proteins were highly produced and their secondary structures were not affected by these substitutions. All mutants are able to insert into lipid monolayers as observed by Langmuir-Blodgett trough and could permeabilize the liposomes in a similar manner as the wild type. However, mosquito-larvicidal activity was abolished for W222L and W226L mutants suggesting that tryptophan residues at both positions play an important role in the toxicity of BinA, possibly involved in the cytopathological process after toxin entry into the cells.

• Journal of fish pathology
• /
• v.13 no.2
• /
• pp.137-142
• /
• 2000

Differences in larvicidal activity of complement and chemiluminescent response of phagocytes in carp (Cyprinus carpio), crucian carp (Carassius auratus) and false dace (Pseudorasbora parva) against excysted metacercariae of Clonorchis sinensis were investigated. The prevalence of C. sinensis metacercariae of false daces caught at Nakdong river (NR) was 100%. However, no C. sinensis metacercariae were found in false daces, which were collected at a reservoir in Chinyoung (CY), crucian carps and carps. The sera of false dace, which were intensively infected with C. sinensis metacercariae, killed excysted metacercariae of C. sinensis more readily than that of carp. However, the serum obtained from C. sinensis metacercariae-free false dace showed the lowest larvicidal ability. The larvicidal ability of sera collected from each fish species completely disappeared when the complement was inactivated by heating. When supernatant of excysted metacercariae homogenate were added to phagocytes of each species, the chemiluminescent responses were significantly (p<0.05) diminished in false dace and carp. The inhibition ratio of chemiluminescent responses by the supernatant was 22.9% in false dace, 9.6% in crucian carp and 12.4% in carp.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
• /
• v.51 no.2
• /
• pp.149-152
• /
• 2012

The larvicidal activities of Piper nigrum fruit methanol extracts and its constituents against larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella, were investigated using the leaf dipping method. Administering the P. nigrum methanol extract resulted in 100 and 97% mortality against diamondback moth larvae at 5.0 and 2.5 mg/mL concentrations, respectively. Larvicidal activities of the P. nigrum fruit-derived piperidine alkaloids, piperine, and N-isobutylamide, as well as pellitorine, guineensine, pipercide, and retrofractamide A against P. xylostella varied according to test compound. Based on the 48 h $LC_{50}$ values, the most toxic compound to diamondback moth larvae was guineensine (0.013 mg/mL) followed by retrofractamide A (0.020mg/mL), pipercide (0.033mg/mL), and pellitorine (0.046 mg/mL). The $LC_{50}$ value of piperine was >0.5 mg/mL.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.37 no.3
• /
• pp.304-313
• /
• 2004

Three-dimensional (3D) models for the 65-kDa activated Cry4A and Cry4B $\delta$-endotoxins from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis that are specifically toxic to mosquito-larvae were constructed by homology modeling, based on atomic coordinates of the Cry1Aa and Cry3Aa crystal structures. They were structurally similar to the known structures, both derived 3D models displayed a three-domain organization: the N-terminal domain (I) is a seven-helix bundle, while the middle and C-terminal domains are primarily comprise of anti-parallel $\beta$-sheets. Circular dichroism spectroscopy confirmed the secondary structural contents of the two homology-based Cry4 structures. A structural analysis of both Cry4 models revealed the following: (a) Residues Arg-235 and Arg-203 are located in the interhelical 5/6 loop within the domain I of Cry4A and Cry4B, respectively. Both are solvent exposed. This suggests that they are susceptible to tryptic cleavage. (b) The unique disulphide bond, together with a proline-rich region within the long loop connecting ${\alpha}4$ and ${\alpha}5$ of Cry4A, were identified. This implies their functional significance for membrane insertion. (c) Significant structural differences between both models were found within domain II that may reflect their different activity spectra. Structural insights from this molecular modeling study would therefore increase our understanding of the mechanic aspects of these two closely related mosquito-larvicidal proteins.

• Entomological Research
• /
• v.48 no.5
• /
• pp.362-371
• /
• 2018

Chemical insecticides released into the environment may have adverse biological effects. Therefore, there is a need for ecofriendly insecticides for mosquito control. Xerophytic plant extracts that may provide more ecofriendly active component were evaluated against Culex pipiens 4th instars. Plant extracts prepared using different solvents with a Soxhlet apparatus and different concentrations were tested against Culex pipiens larvae. The effects were observed at 24 h and 72 h intervals and $LD_{50}$ and $LD_{90}$ values determined. Chloroform ($CHCl_3$) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) extracts of Althaea ludwigii were the most effective against Cx. pipiens $4^{th}$ instars, but were highly dependent on extract concentrations and exposure time. Results suggest that A. ludwigii extracts contain bioactive compounds, such as phenols and saponins, that may provide effective Cx. pipienslarval control. However, the extract was found to be toxic to zebrafish larvae, and may be toxic to other aquatic fauna. Further studies to determine the active components and toxicity to other fauna are needed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Entomolohy Conference
• /
• 2004.05a
• /
• pp.109-109
• /
• 2004

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.13 no.1
• /
• pp.50-56
• /
• 2003

A freshwater bloom-forming cyanobacterium, Microcystis aeruginosa, and local soil isolate Scytonema sp. strain BT 23 were demonstrated to contain biotoxic secondary metabolites with pesticidal and mosquito larvicidal activities. A purified toxic constituent from M aeruginosa showed an absorption maximum at 230 nm and its toxicity symptoms, Rf value on TLC, and retention time observed ill an HPLC analysis were similar to those of the hepatotoxic heptapeptide microcystin-LR. The bioactive constituent of the Scytonema sp. was less polar in nature and exhibited two peaks at 240 and 285 m. When applied to two cruciffrous pests, Pieris brassicae and Plutella flostella, the crude extracts and toxic principles from the two cyanobacteria showed significant antifeedant activity in a no-choice bioassay, and at higher concenuations exhibited contact toxicity to the insect larvae. The purified toxin from M. aeruginosa was found to be more effective and produced 97.5 and $92.8\%$ larval mortality in the two pests, fo11owing 2 h of toxin treatment at a concentration of $25{\mu}g$ Per leaf disc (2.5 cm dia.). Meanwhile, similar treatment with the purified toxin from Sytonema sp. stain BT 23 only produced 73 and $78\%$ mortality in the two pests. The cyanobacterial constituents also showed significant activity against Culex and Anopheles larvae. The M. aeruginosa toxin ($20{\mu}g\;ml^-1$) caused 98.2 and $88.1\%$ mortality in the Culex and Anopheles larvae, respectively, while the purified toxin from the Sytonema sp. was less toxic and only produced a 96.3 and $91.2\%$ mortality, respectively, at a much higher concentration ($40{\mu}g\;ml^-1$). Accordingly, the current results point to certain hitherto unknown biological properties of cyanobacterial biotoxins.