INSTEAD of using toxic pesticides to control the termites that destroy valuable crops and infest buildings, farmers might like to try glucose. In a modified form, the sugar switches off termite immune systems making them vulnerable to fungal attack.
Unlike mammal immune systems which sense pathogens and make antibodies on the fly, termites produce proteins that break apart any harmful molecules. They then build these proteins into the walls of their nests creating a 鈥渟uper-organism immune system鈥�, says at Towson University in Maryland.
He and his colleagues found a way to disable this system using a modified version of glucose that mimics the molecules found on the surface of a fungus that attacks termites. Released into a termite nest, the sugar derivative binds to the immune proteins that would otherwise destroy the attacking molecules. With these proteins out of action, the nest becomes vulnerable to fungal attack. Sure enough, in Bulmer鈥檚 experiments, termites that consumed the sugar died within days (, ).
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The glucose could be an attractive alternative to conventional pesticides because it is simple, non-toxic and readily available. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to degrade very quickly in the environment,鈥� Bulmer says.
