With support from the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Ideelab is developing more efficient strategies to combat pathogens that threaten citrus.
Photo by Phelipe Janning, FAPESP Agency
The work of Ideelab, a São Paulo startup company, is based on the principle that plants communicate with microorganisms through specific molecules called effectors. Effectors are peptides and proteins that are produced naturally and interact with the pattern recognition receptors of cultivars.
“This communication determines whether the interaction will benefit the plant or result in disease,” said Ronaldo José Durigan Dalio, founder of Ideelab. “Based on the effector molecules, the plant can differentiate a ‘friend’ from an ‘enemy.’”
Initially, Ideelab researchers mapped how the Phytophthora parasitica pathogen, which causes gummosis in citrus plants, uses effector molecules to bypass the plant’s immune system and cause disease.
“We saw that in susceptible plants, the pathogen implements ‘molecular weapons,’ and the plant is unable to defend itself,” Dalio said. “Resistant plants, on the other hand, have a defense mechanism in another layer, which does not come into contact with the effector molecules. It’s like a second line of defense that prevents infection.”
This discovery has made it possible to develop more efficient disease control strategies for gummosis and other citrus diseases, including greening.
Ideelab’s history began when Dalio returned to Brazil after earning a doctorate at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. He began working at the Sylvio Moreira Citriculture Center of the Agronomic Institute. There, Dalio began applying the knowledge he had acquired to the diseases affecting citrus plants in Brazil.
“I started being invited to present these lines of research at conferences, which resulted in interested companies approaching me about developing innovations based on these technologies,” Dalio said.
In partnership with Professor Sérgio Pascolatti from the Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture at the University of São Paulo, Dalio founded Ideelab to develop bio-inputs for Brazilian agriculture. The company’s name combines the German word for idea (idee) with lab (laboratory).
Dalio said an important differentiator of Ideelab’s technology is its ability to combat pathogens that lodge in the plant’s conductive vessels, such as the bacteria that cause greening.
“These microorganisms colonize vessels and damage tissues,” Dalio said. “And it’s very difficult for a conventional chemical product to reach them. More refined techniques are needed to reach the target and protect the crops.
“We’re at an intermediate stage. We still need to resolve issues such as the stability of the peptides, form of application, residual time and interval between applications.”
According to Dalio, the technologies developed by Ideelab offer a sustainable alternative to traditional chemical pesticides. “It’s a product with a much lower carbon footprint, non-polluting and non-toxic to the environment,” he said.
In addition to diseases caused by bacteria and fungi, the technology can be used to control insect vectors of disease.
Source: Roseli Andrion, FAPESP Agency
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