The first neonicotinoid insecticide, imidacloprid, was launched in 1991. Today this class of insecticides comprises at least seven major compounds with a market share of more than 25% of total global insecticide sales. Neonicotinoid insecticides are highly selective agonists of insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and provide farmers with invaluable, highly effective tools against some of t...

BACKGROUND Nilaparvata lugens, a major pest in rice-growing areas, is extremely difficult to manage. Neonicotinoids have increasingly been used in crop protection and animal health care against N. lugens. To discover new bioactive molecules and pesticides, we combined the active structure of cyanoacrylates, aromatic aldehydes, and substituted pyridyl (thiazolyl) methyl-2-substituted-methylidene...

Neonicotinoid insecticides have been themost commonmanagement tool for Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say), infestations in cultivated potato for nearly 20 yr. The relative ease of applying neonicotinoids at planting coupled with inexpensive, generic neonicotinoid formulations has reduced the incentive for potato growers to transition from these products to other mode of act...

The nicotinic acetylcholine (ACh) receptor (nAChR) plays a crucial role in excitatory neurotransmission and is an important target for drugs and insecticides. Diverse nAChR subtypes with various subunit combinations confer differential selectivity for nicotinic drugs. We investigated the subtype selectivity of nAChR agonists by comparing two ACh-binding proteins (AChBPs) as structural surrogate...

Regarding the hypothesis that neonicotinoid insecticides used for seed coating of agricultural crops - mainly corn, sunflower and seed rape - are related to the extensive death of honey bees, the phenomenon of corn seedling guttation has been recently considered as a possible route of exposure of bees to these systemic insecticides. In the present study, guttation drops of corn plants obtained ...

Neonicotinoid seed treatments, typically clothianidin or thiamethoxam, are routinely applied to >80% of maize (corn) seed grown in North America where they are marketed as a targeted pesticide delivery system. Despite this widespread use, the amount of compound translocated into plant tissue from the initial seed treatment to provide protection has not been reported. Our two year field study co...

Acetylcholine-binding proteins (AChBPs) from mollusks are suitable structural and functional surrogates of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors when combined with transmembrane spans of the nicotinic receptor. These proteins assemble as a pentamer with identical ACh binding sites at the subunit interfaces and show ligand specificities resembling those of the nicotinic receptor for agonists and...

This study quantitatively measured neonicotinoids in various foods that are common to human consumption. All fruit and vegetable samples (except nectarine and tomato) and 90% of honey samples were detected positive for at least one neonicotinoid; 72% of fruits, 45% of vegetables, and 50% of honey samples contained at least two different neonicotinoids in one sample, with imidacloprid having the...

Pollinating insects provide a vital ecosystem service to crops and wild plants. Exposure to low doses of neonicotinoid insecticides has sub-lethal effects on social pollinators such as bumblebees and honeybees, disturbing their navigation and interfering with their development. Solitary Hymenoptera are also very important ecosystem service providers, but the sub-lethal effects of neonicotinoids...

Neurotoxic pesticides, such as neonicotinoids, negatively affect the cognitive capacity and fitness of non-target species, and could also modify interspecific interactions. We tested whether sublethal contamination with neonicotinoid could affect foraging, colony fitness and the outcome of behavioural interactions between a native (Monomorium antarcticum) and an invasive ant species (Linepithem...