Mary Ann Mikulski on fri 18 nov 05

Article from the Wall St. Journal

"Companies Seek Out
These Tiny Assassins
To Fight Crop Pests

A Biopesticide Maker Prowls
Wilderness Areas to Find
Fungi, Parasites and Spores
By JOEL MILLMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 18, 2005; Page A1

DAVIS, Calif. -- The autopsy began. "See?" Pamela Marrone said, nudging
another scientist closer to the blackened corpse. "The white thing -- it's g=
rowing
out of the right side of his head."

Wrinkling her nose at the aroma of decay, cadaver specialist Sherry Heins
leaned in. "But how do we know it's the cause of death?" she asked.

The two women stuffed the victim -- all two centimeters of a recently
deceased corn-ear worm -- into a glass chamber filled with cornstarch and mo=
lasses.
If the bacteria that killed the worm were still alive, they would gorge on t=
he
sweet sludge and swell up into something big enough for Dr. Marrone and her
team to study.

Corn-ear worms destroy corn crops. Dr. Marrone's biotech company, AgraQuest
Inc., hunts for worm-killing germs. It also seeks fungi, parasites, spores a=
nd
anything else that kills crop-eaters in the wild.

The Davis, Calif., company is one of a new generation of "biopesticide"
makers that search for innovative ways to kill crop pests without using synt=
hetic
chemicals. Though the science of biopesticides is decades old, it's rather n=
ew
in commercial enterprises, with a slew of products just coming to market. So=
me
of the companies breed insects and other bugs to eat the pests. Others
develop carriers of deadly microbes to poison the pests. Still others search=
for the
specific germs that kill pests and mass produce the microscopic assassins.
Most of these companies are small start-ups, few of whom have yet to show a
profit. Their business plans read like part science fiction, part "CSI: Frui=
t
Orchard."

Take Pasteuria Biosciences LLC, a Gainesville, Fla., start-up that is raisin=
g
capital to kill nematodes, worms that attack plant roots. Pasteuria uses a
fermentation process to reproduce a killer microbe called Pasteuria penetran=
s,
which burrows into nematodes and prevents them from producing eggs. Soybean
plantations and golf courses, both veritable salad bowls for nematodes, coul=
d be
huge markets, says Tom Hewlett, a nematologist who launched Pasteuria in 200=
3.

Then there's Trichoderma harzianum, a microbe discovered at Cornell
University, which is now marketed by BioWorks Inc. of Fairport, N.Y. Trichod=
erma grows
a shield around a plant's roots, and secretes an enzyme that destroys invadi=
ng
fungi. Another firm, Certis USA, a unit of Japan's Mitsui & Co., produces a
bug killer, called Azadirachtin, from the sap of Asia's neem tree, which
poisons aphids and whiteflies.

Overall, biopesticide sales are expected to reach $340 million this year, up=

20% from 2004, according to the Biopesticide Industry Alliance. That's small=

change compared with some $30 billion in chemical pesticide sales, but that
market is barely growing. Thus far, biopesticide companies' products are sol=
d
mainly in the U.S., usually to greenhouses and horticulture farmers.

Biopesticide customers include not only organic farmers, but conventional
farmers who worry that heavy reliance on chemical pesticides will poison the=
ir
fields and water sources, especially in the tropics where a lush climate
produces a host of crop-eating pests.

In Costa Rica, which last year imported about $100 million in chemical
pesticides, biopesticide vendors are making inroads, in part, because the go=
vernment
wants to market the country as an ecological haven. Ball Horticultural Co. o=
f
West Chicago, Ill., is busily replacing toxic pesticides with bio-killers at=

its Costa Rican nurseries. AgraQuest sells Ball a fungicide, called Serenade=
,
which kills molds by eating their cell walls.

Dr. Marrone, AgraQuest's 49-year-old founder, grew up in a family of organic=

gardeners in New England. After getting a Ph.D. at North Carolina State
University, she worked at Monsanto Co., where synthetic chemical pesticides=20=
were the
norm and she was encouraged to seek biological substitutes. But when Monsant=
o
shifted its focus to genetically engineering crops, Dr. Marrone decided to
search for venture capital instead. Today privately owned AgraQuest has 72
employees and expects sales of $10 million this year.

While many biopesticide makers tinker with microbes discovered on university=

campuses, AgraQuest is unusual because it searches fields and jungles for ne=
w
compounds, often finding them in dead bugs. It's painstaking work. Of the
billions of bugs that inhabit the planet at any given moment, fewer than 1%=20=
die of
infection.

Over the past decade, Dr. Marrone estimates she's screened some 23,000
suspects. Tanks and storage boxes filled with rotting vermin line the hallwa=
ys at
AgraQuest's headquarters. Besides bugs, there are growing collections of oce=
an
sponges and bird feathers. Sponges harbor microbes yet to be exposed to gard=
en
pests, Dr. Marrone explains. Feather shafts are breeding grounds for microbe=
s
that kill lice, and perhaps crop-devouring bugs, too.

Putah Creek, a nature reserve near Davis, is one of Dr. Marrone's favorite
hunting spots. A former walnut grove, the area swarms with fruit-eating bugs=
,
especially after spring floods. This summer, on ground still slick with runo=
ff,
she walked along a brackish stream, examining rotting walnuts, tree bark and=

spider webs for specimens. "Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, chancing on a cache=20=
of
aphid husks on a blade of wild millet. Within hours they were bagged and
tagged in her laboratory's microbe morgue.

Other times, Dr. Marrone relies on professional microbe hunters, mainly
academics who prowl wilderness areas. In Honduras, Gary Strobel, a Montana S=
tate
University researcher found a fungus called Muscodor albus nestled in the ba=
rk
of a mutant cinnamon tree. When dropped into water, it releases a mixture of=

gases that asphyxiate insects. Dr. Strobel licensed the microbe for around
$100,000, plus royalties, to AgraQuest. The company hopes to turn it into a
replacement for methyl bromide, a chemical pesticide that is being phased ou=
t by the
Environmental Protection Agency because of its hazard to the ozone layer.

In the lab, Dr. Marrone isolates microbes from the plant pests they kill and=

tries to figure out which specific microbe did the deed. "You can squash the=

guts on a glass slide and look under a microscope for spores or something th=
at
might have caused an infection," she says with a knowing grin. "Or you can p=
ut
the corpse into a Clorox solution, put it on a petri plate and see what
crawls out."

Eventually, proven killers are released for further testing in bug colonies,=

usually fruit flies or mosquitoes. Next, AgraQuest determines how well a
killer can survive storage. The hardiest germs are reproduced by fermentatio=
n in a
plant outside Tlaxcala, Mexico, and then dehydrated for shipment. Farmers ad=
d
water to the microbes and then spray them on crops with hand pumps or
crop-dusting aircraft.

Most of AgraQuest's sales are from its best-selling product, Serenade,
derived from Bacillus subtilis, a microbe Dr. Marrone found in a Fresno, Cal=
if.,
peach orchard. During her recent trip to Culiac=E1n, Mexico, a local tomato=20=
farmer,
Juan Jos=E9 Ley, told her he's such a Serenade fan he used it in his
greenhouses even before the Mexican government gave it regulatory approval.=20=
"We imported
from the states, illegally," he said.

Back at home, Dr. Marrone said she's trying to clear her kitchen of
specimens, especially the ones she keeps among the ice-cube trays. "My husba=
nd has been
bugging me to get these things out of the freezer," she said with a smile,
reaching for an open jug of Clorox.

Write to Joel Millman at joel.millman@wsj.com1 "

Sue Jennings on sat 19 nov 05

--0-1954736768-1132437413=:32149

great article-I saved this one! Sue

Mary Ann Mikulski wrote:
Article from the Wall St. Journal
"Companies Seek Out These Tiny Assassins To Fight Crop Pests

A Biopesticide Maker Prowls Wilderness Areas to Find Fungi, Parasites and Spores
By JOEL MILLMAN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
November 18, 2005; Page A1
DAVIS, Calif. -- The autopsy began. "See?" Pamela Marrone said, nudging
another scientist closer to the blackened corpse. "The white thing -- it's growing
out of the right side of his head."

--0-1954736768-1132437413=:32149

Daryl on sat 19 nov 05

Has anyone tried the "Serenade" product mentioned in the article? Or perhaps
the Trichoderma harzianum?



Then there's Trichoderma harzianum, a microbe discovered at Cornell
University, which is now marketed by BioWorks Inc. of Fairport, N.Y.
Trichoderma grows
a shield around a plant's roots, and secretes an enzyme that destroys
invading
fungi. Another firm, Certis USA, a unit of Japan's Mitsui & Co., produces a
bug killer, called Azadirachtin, from the sap of Asia's neem tree, which
poisons aphids and whiteflies.


In Costa Rica, which last year imported about $100 million in chemical
pesticides, biopesticide vendors are making inroads, in part, because the
government
wants to market the country as an ecological haven. Ball Horticultural Co.
of
West Chicago, Ill., is busily replacing toxic pesticides with bio-killers at
its Costa Rican nurseries. AgraQuest sells Ball a fungicide, called
Serenade,
which kills molds by eating their cell walls.

Dr. Marrone, AgraQuest's 49-year-old founder, grew up in a family of organic
gardeners in New England. After getting a Ph.D. at North Carolina State
University, she worked at Monsanto Co., where synthetic chemical pesticides
were the
norm and she was encouraged to seek biological substitutes. But when
Monsanto
shifted its focus to genetically engineering crops, Dr. Marrone decided to
search for venture capital instead. Today privately owned AgraQuest has 72
employees and expects sales of $10 million this year.



Most of AgraQuest's sales are from its best-selling product, Serenade,
derived from Bacillus subtilis, a microbe Dr. Marrone found in a Fresno,
Calif.,
peach orchard.

John D'hondt on sun 20 nov 05

> Has anyone tried the "Serenade" product mentioned in the article? Or
perhaps
> the Trichoderma harzianum?

I sincerely believe that all forms of chemical pesticides are very bad
business. I have three main reasons for this believe :

1) just as the genetic DNA code is universal on this planet so are the
biochemical pathways used by almost all organisms. There are minor
differences but not enough to make any chemical that kills one life form
safe in use for any other life form. A good example is Roundup from Monsanto
that kills vegetation. In the last few years it has been found very toxic
for amphibia (frogs and such) and even more recent some worrying effects
have been found on mammals and humans.

2) Man-made chemicals are fundamentally different from natural compounds in
that by the nature of organic chemistry racemic mixtures come about. When a
plant makes glucose through photosynthesis that glusoce is D-glucose, the
only glucose that can be digested by all living creatures. When a chemist
makes glucose this will turn out to be a mixture of D-glucose and L-glucose
where L- glucose is the exact mirror immage of the D- form, lethally toxic
for many life forms and undigestible for almost all. In fact the L-form can
often block digestion of the D-form when they exist together.
This is one main reason why pesticides persist for an extremely long time in
the environment.
DDT stopped being used more than 40 years ago but there is plenty of
evidense that the amounts of DDT that circulate in the environment today are
still as high as 40 years ago.

3) Chemical pesticides disrupt ecosystems and will probably kill the natural
predators of what you want to fight. Once you start with this you may be on
a slippery slope where your problems with pests grow exponential and you
will need to use more and more pesticides that will augment your problems
that will force you to use more chemical until you die at a young age
completely poisoned in a silent Spring.

Natural means to fight pests are a lot better. They are usually very
specific (until the gmo lads stumble on a gm organism that can kill all life
on earth and don't laugh because this has almost happened once or twice
already, like the bacterium that could transform crop wastes into ethanol in
situ) so that my point 1) is not a problem. Point 2) is also not a problem.
But point 3) is only partially OK. You may still cause environmental
disruption with a natural pest killer when this is brought out of it's
natural environment. And there are a great many examples of this happening.
In an ideal world organic growing and farming should not just substitute
more natural pesticides for chemical poison. By making a natural soil with a
high organic matter content and a thriving ecosystem of a diverse micro herd
plants do manage on their own very well as a rule.
I have had garden beans covered in aphids on one or two occasions. I did
nothing but in less than a week there was not a single aphid to be seen any
more. At the moment I have a row of basket willow covered in giant grey
aphids. They are so plentiful there is no bark visible any more and the
little birds that flit on and off these trees hardly seem to make an impact.
However we only ever see these aphids in Autumn and not at any other time or
on any other plant and they do not keep the trees from growing.
I am not a good example for an organic farmer, I usually have 50 different
projects running so that I find little time to do even basic weeding. Any
crop that can manage without me will have to do without my help between
planting and harvest. Most crops get one or at most two fast spells of
attention from the family but we have only time to do the most urgent jobs.
Keeping on top of the rodents is always a priority because these can wipe
out whole crops real fast. Slugs can do a lot of damage and so when this is
obvious we will pick a few buckets of slugs at night. I have had very few
other problems.
Sometimes there are a lot of stinkbugs visible but as long as plants do not
seem to suffer I don't think I have a problem.
I have seen a lot of leaf miners this year on wild vegetation at least a few
hundred yards away from the gardens. Maybe I won't stay so lucky and maybe
we have severe problems lurking just around the corner. I would still
consider other options, such as not growing a particular crop at all before
importing a particular pesticide especially a bacterial one. One reason
being that I believe it is not possible to keep bacteria and fungi away
anywhere. If the conditions are right you will already have Trichoderma and
Bacillus subtilis present without any need to spend good money to get more
of the same. If your conditions are wrong no amount of money will make
bought in germs work (for long).
My two pennies,
john