BioPesTY: Safe and eco-friendly biopesticides made by yeast fermentation

ongoing

Chemical pesticides pose significant threats to human health and biodiversity, causing millions of poisonings and deaths annually, along with a potential 40% decline in insect species. To mitigate these hazards, the European Commission has committed to reduce the use of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030. Biopesticides, such as pyrethrins, offer a safe and effective alternative towards this direction. Pyrethrins are natural, biodegradable compounds with potent insecticidal properties produced by Tanacetum cinerariifolium plant (Dalmatian chrysanthemum). As they are safe for humans, and rapidly degrade into non-toxic byproducts, they are approved already for organic agriculture. However, pyrethrin industrial production occurs via plant cultivation and extraction, therefore, faces restrictions due to limited availability of land, labor-intensive cultivation, and environmental factors. Scaling up production is challenging, and total chemical synthesis is unsustainable. Biotechnological production of pyrethrins using baker’s yeast offers a sustainable solution. To achieve this, in BioPesTY, I will develop a yeast strain engineered to produce pyrethrins in a scalable and sustainable manner. Using a multidisciplinary approach engaging biochemistry, transcriptomics, and synthetic biology principles, I will identify the only missing step of pyrethrin biosynthesis, and I will reconstruct the whole pathway in yest, able to convert simple sugar into human-safe biopesticides. In BioPesTY I will enrich my current knowledge on plant biochemistry, with the training I will receive in the host lab on metabolic and yeast genetic engineering, and synthetic biology, to acquire unique expertise that will prompt me to develop my own scientific niche. During BioPesTY I will be trained also in fundraising, research management, communication, teaching and academic leadership. These skills will be instrumental in launching my future independent internationally competitive research career.