Natural compounds as next-generation herbicides.
Herbicides with new modes of action (MOAs) are badly needed due to the rapidly evolving resistance to commercial herbicides, but a new MOA has not been introduced in over 20 years. The greatest pest management challenge for organic agriculture is the lack of effective natural product herbicides. The structural diversity and evolved biological activity of natural phytotoxins offer opportunities for the development of both directly used natural compounds and synthetic herbicides with new target sites based on the structures of natural phytotoxins. Natural phytotoxins are also a source for the discovery of new herbicide target sites that can serve as the focus of traditional herbicide discovery efforts. There are many examples of strong natural phytotoxins with MOAs other than those used by commercial herbicides, which indicates that there are molecular targets of herbicides that can be added to the current repertoire of commercial herbicide MOAs.
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, University, Mississippi 38677.
Franck E
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6964-2499
FE
Dayan
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Natural Products Utilization Research Unit, University, Mississippi 38677 stephen.duke@ars.usda.gov.
Stephen O
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7210-5168
SO
Duke
D001688:Biological Products / Q000494:pharmacology; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways / Q000187:drug effects; D053209:Herbicide Resistance; D006540:Herbicides / Q000494:pharmacology*; D057685:Plant Weeds / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D058728:Weed Control
D001688:Biological Products; D006540:Herbicides