Chitinase Inhibitors and Chitin Mimetics for Crop Protection

Pathogen and pest management is a key element in agriculture. The Integrated Pest Management concept relies on the availability of an array of protective measures having different but complementary mechanisms. As a consequence, alternative strategies have to be developed. Because chitin occurs in the cell wall of fungi and in various structural components of arthropods, its metabolism has been considered as a suitable target to manage pathogens and pests. Disruption of chitinase metabolism is one of the strategies that have been considered. Studies led to the discovery of new molecules which interact with chitinases and induce antibiotic, antifungal or insecticidal effects. These compounds present different ranges of activity, depending on their biochemical classification, their structure and the nature of the targeted chitinase. Some are oligoand polysaccharides (e.g. allosamidin, FPS-1) and others are peptides (e.g. argadin, argifin, cyclic dipeptides or psammaplin A). These natural molecules directly interact with the catalytic site of chitinases, mimicking chitin structure. In this review we will present a synthesis of the recent works that aimed to disrupt chitin metabolism by chitinase inhibition with the ultimate objective of developing new applications for crop protection. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________