Protect houses and fields by road

Sugar can become a powerful weapon in preventing the destruction of construction works and crops of harmful insects.

GDL can destroy the immune system of harmful insects.Photo: biopesticides.org.

GDL (Glucono-Delta-Lactone), a substance in glucose, is a favorite food of insects. But this substance has the ability to destroy their immune system. So many scientists argue that GDL is an opium of insects.

Experts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US) found that GDL has the ability to control the activity of some proteins in the insect's body, enabling bacteria and fungi to attack and destroy them.

'Harmful insects, such as termites, can destroy human food crops and construction works. The damage they cause is more than $ 30 billion per year, 'said Dr. Ram Sasisekharan, a researcher at the Massachusett Institute of Technology.

Sasisekharan hopes that this finding could lead to a sustainable, non-toxic method to prevent insect infestation of crops and construction. To do that, scientists will influence the genes of plants to produce more GDL than normal. They can also mix GDL into building materials to combat insect attacks. In addition, we can use it during processing and storing food.