They reported on the first pesticides to capitalize on this unique defensive strategy in March at the 237th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society.Developed with sustainable agriculture in mind, the new fungicides — called “paldoxins” — could still do the work of conventional pesticides, helping to protect corn, wheat and other crops. These crops increasingly are used not just for food, but to make biofuels. The new fungicides also could help fight the growing problem of resistance, in which plant pests shrug off fungicides, the research suggests.

The new fungicide materials are more selective, stopping fungi that cause plant diseases without harming other organisms. They work in a unique way, disrupting a key chemical signaling pathway that the fungi use to breakdown a plant’s normal defenses. As a result, the plants boost their natural defenses and overcome fungal attack without harming people and the environment, the researchers say

Researchers have known for years that many plants have a defense mechanism that involves production of natural chemicals, called phytoalexins, to kill disease-causing fungi. The fungus, however, fights back. It releases enzymes that detoxify, or destroy, the phytoalexin, leaving the plant vulnerable to the fungi’s attack. To take advantage of that punch-counterpunch strategy, researchers proposed the development of new anti-fungal agents to block the fungi’s destruction of phytoalexins. They termed these new agents paldoxins, short for phytoalexin detoxification inhibitors.