A novel bee‐friendly peptidomimetic insecticide: Synthesis, aphicidal activity and 3D‐QSAR study of insect kinin analogs at Phe2 modification

• Published in: Pest management science 2022-07, Vol.78 (7), p.2952-2963
• Main Authors: Zhou, Yuan‐lin, Li, Xin‐lu, Zhang, Yi‐meng, Shi, Yan, Li, Hong‐hong, Zhang, Zhe, Iqbal, Chandni, Ye, De‐xing, Li, Xue‐sheng, Zhao, Ying‐ru, Xu, Wei‐long, Smagghe, Guy, Yang, Xin‐ling
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino acids; Analogs; aphicidal activity; Aphidoidea; Aromatic compounds; Bees; Bioassays; Biological activity; Biological effects; Chains; Control methods; Crop damage; eco‐friendly insecticides discovery; Hydrophobicity; insect kinin analogs; Insecticide resistance; Insecticides; Insects; Kinins; Lead compounds; low bee toxicity; Neuropeptides; Nontarget organisms; Optimization; Pesticide resistance; Pests; Residues; Soybeans; Structure-activity relationships; synthesis; Three dimensional models; Toxicity; Vectors
• ISSN: 1526-498X; 1526-4998
• DOI: 10.1002/ps.6920

BACKGROUND As one of the most abundant and destructive pests in agriculture, aphids cause significant damage to crops due to their sap‐taking and as virus vectors. Chemical insecticides are the most effective method to control aphids, but they bring insecticide resistance problems and harm nontarget organisms, especially bees, therefore the search for novel eco‐friendly aphid control agents with low bee toxicity is urgent. Insect kinins are a class of small neuropeptides that control important functions in insects. In our previous study, we found insect kinin analog IV‐3 has good aphicidal activity and the location of the aromatic ring on the side chain of Phe2 is the key to the formation of the β‐turn resulting in the biological activity of insect kinin analogs. However, there are few studies on insect kinin Phe2 substitution and modification, and its structure–activity relationship is still unclear. RESULTS In this project, 44 insect kinin analogs with the Phe2 modification, replacing it with different natural or unnatural amino acids, were designed and synthesized based on the lead IV‐3 to explore the role of the Phe2 residues. Bioassays with soybean aphids of Aphis glycines indicated that nine analogs have better aphicidal activity than the lead IV‐3. In particular, compound L25 exhibits excellent aphicidal activity (LC50 = 0.0047 mmol L−1) and has low toxicity to bees. Furthermore, a reliable three‐dimensional quantitative structure–activity relationship (3D‐QSAR) was established to produce a helpful clue that introducing hydrophobic groups away from the backbone chain is beneficial to improve aphicidal activity. CONCLUSION The residue Phe2 of insect kinin analogs is the key position and has a significant impact on the activity. L25 has a high toxicity for aphids, while a low toxicity to bees, and therefore can be considered as a lead compound to develop new biosafe aphid control agents. Finally, we provide a useful 3D‐QSAR model as theoretical guidance for further structural optimization. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. Forty‐four insect kinin analogs were designed and synthesized with the Phe2 modification on lead IV‐3, followed by construction of a reliable 3D‐QSAR model. Nine analogs have better aphicidal activity than the lead, especially L25, which has good aphicidal activity and no toxicity to bees, and therefore could be chosen as the candidate for eco‐friendly insecticides.