Method and System for Protecting Monarch Butterflies from Pesticides
AssigneeSeed Health, Inc.
InventorJoseph E. Kovarik
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method and system for the treatment of Monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus Kluk (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) to protect them from various life-threatening conditions, including the negative effects of various pesticides, provides Monarch butterflies with the ability to assimilate and degrade pesticides such as neonicotinoids and fipronil. Certain embodiments involve the inoculation of flowers by honey bees with desired bacteria that are able to degrade pesticides, such that when Monarch butterflies visit such flowers, they are exposed to such bacteria, transforming the microbiome of the Monarch butterflies so that pesticides can be degraded, thus enhancing the health of the Monarch butterflies.
Claims20
A method for providing a Monarch butterfly with the ability to assimilate pesticides, comprising, inoculating a Monarch butterfly with a culture of pesticide degrading bacteria, wherein the pesticide degrading bacteria include genes whose expression by the pesticide degrading bacteria results in the degradation of the pesticide, said pesticide degrading bacteria being modified to include said genes using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) CRISPR associated protein (Cas) system or using a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) from prevotella and francisella 1 (Cpf1) nuclease, said pesticide degrading bacteria selected from the group consisting of L. rhamnosus and L. plantarum.
A method for providing a Monarch butterfly with the ability to assimilate pesticides, comprising, inoculating a Monarch butterfly with a culture of pesticide degrading bacteria, wherein the pesticide degrading bacteria include genes whose expression by the pesticide degrading bacteria results in the degradation of the pesticide, said pesticide degrading bacteria selected from the group consisting of L. rhamnosus and L. plantarum.
A method for providing a Monarch butterfly with the ability to assimilate pesticides, comprising, providing a Monarch butterfly with a culture of pesticide degrading bacteria, wherein the pesticide degrading bacteria include genes whose expression by the pesticide degrading bacteria results in the degradation of the pesticide, said pesticide degrading bacteria selected from the group consisting of L. rhamnosus, Commensalibacter intestine, Commensalibacter papalotli, Lactobacillus paracasei, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactococcus lactis, Bifidobacterium animalis, Lactobacillus thermophilus, Bacillus clausii;
- Lactobacillus plantarum, Leuconostoc citreum and Ochrobactrum intermedium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.