A FAILED antibiotic has been turned into an effective weed killer, after Adelaide-based researchers discovered a molecule which could block crucial amino acids needed for weed growth.
The unexpected discovery was found in a molecule developed to treat tuberculosis but when it failed, University of Adelaide's Waite Research Institute researcher Tatiana Soares da Costa said a team realised superbugs and weeds carried many similar growth structures.
"A lot of work goes into creating drugs for superbugs and disease but it gets wasted and never leaves the lab," she said.
"If these failed drugs have similar targets in weeds, my team decided surely we can use it as a herbicide - this is how the idea began."
Dr Soares da Costa said researchers found the molecule killed weeds in a very different way to other herbicides on the market.
"It has never been done before - using this new mode of action," she said.
Although in its early stages, researchers have shown the new mechanism of action against weeds can kill two of Australia's most problematic species - annual ryegrass and wild radish.
"We have undertaken preliminary studies on whether it has any affect on human cells. At this stage, it does not but we need to do more extensive studies on this and the environmental impact," Dr Soares da Costa said.
The break-through is expected to leave the lab in the future, with plans to make it commercially available but first, researchers need to determine it is safe for use, extend studies to other weeds, as well as pinpoint any impacts on crops.
"We are very much an early discovery-phase lab, so we are looking to partner up with industry so they can take it to the next level," Dr Soares da Costa said
Dr Soares da Costa hoped collaboration could also determine long-term environmental toxicity and efficacy.
"We have made the discovery but what is the potential and what can we do to get there? that is the next step. We need to do it in partnership with industry," she said.
What researchers do know though, is since it is a radically different molecule to what is used in herbicides on the market, weeds are less likely to develop resistance to these molecules because plants have never been treated with it before.
"Herbicides on the market have been used for so many years but we expect it to be much harder for plants to develop the levels of resistance we are seeing, to this new mode of action."
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Vanessa Binks
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
I am the Markets Editor and journalist at the Stock Journal. I am based at Nuriootpa in SA's lower north.
