Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA doi:10.1073/pnas.0904063106 (2009)

Credit: S. STAMMERS/SPL

Termites and other insect pests could be vanquished by short-circuiting their immunity and letting microbial infections do the rest.

Mark Bulmer of Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts, Ram Sasisekharan at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and their colleagues studied a Gram-negative-bacteria-binding protein, GNBP2, that termites maintain in immune cells and secrete throughout their nests. The protein recognizes carbohydrates associated with infectious microbes, and cleaves them, creating fragments that prime the insects' immune systems.

The researchers identified a glucose derivative that binds to an active pocket of GNBP2 and disarms it. This molecule, D-δ-gluconolactone, caused termites to succumb to subsequent infection with the fungus Metarhizium anisopliae as well as opportunistic infections in lab tests.