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Dimitrios Kontogiannatos

Agricultural University of Athens

Dr. Dimitrios Kontogiannatos is a collaborative researcher at the Agricultural University of Athens (AUA) and the National Center for Scientific Research 'Demokritos” (NCSR 'Demokritos”), Athens, Greece. In 2013, he received his Ph.D. diploma in Insect Biotechnology and Insect Molecular Biology from the AUA’s Department of Biotechnology, specializing in Pest Control Science and Insect Biotechnology. His research mainly focuses on the use of RNA interference (RNAi) technology in designing insecticidal formulations of low environmental cost. Additionally, he is studying the molecular and physiological impact of various xenobiotics on the developmental processes of terrestrial arthropods. From 2015 to the present he has been collaborating with the AUA’s Biotechnology Department as a part-time Assistant Professor. In 2018 he founded and currently runs a Pest Control Company headquartered in Argyroupolis, Attica, Greece, named 'PROPEST FHG”.

1books edited

1chapters authored

Latest work with IntechOpen by Dimitrios Kontogiannatos

This book highlights some of the most recent research with respect to emerging pest challenges in agricultural crop and animal husbandry production: analytical methods for glyphosate detection in foods, biopesticides and essential oils, environmental safety in pest control, herbicide and glyphosate resistance, herbicides and weed management, integrated pest management, mass spectrometry for insect physiology studies, pheromones and chemical communication, pasteurellosis outbreaks, and tick identification and management.

Pests, Weeds and Diseases in Agricultural Crop and Animal Husbandry Production

Pests, Weeds and Diseases in Agricultural Crop and Animal Husbandry Production

Edited by Dimitrios Kontogiannatos

Chapters authored

In Search of New Methodologies for Efficient Insect Pest Control: “The RNAi “Movement”

By Anna Kourti, Luc Swevers and Dimitrios Kontogiannatos

The development of insecticide formulations with new mechanisms of action (modes of action, MOAs) is a huge priority for pesticide industry. This priority has become apparent during the last few years after (a) the observed increase in insect resistance for the most widely used active substances and (b) the harmful effects of the excessive use of pesticides on human health, environment, beneficial insects and fish. Silencing of genes by RNAi (RNA interference) technology provides an alternative, selective to species level, environmentally friendly strategy to combat insect pests. Double-stranded RNA molecules (double-stranded RNAs, dsRNAs) targeting important developmental genes are taken up by the digestive tract of the targeted insect speciesand induce RNAi, which results in inhibition of growth, development and reproduction of the targeted insect species. After the rapid development of RNAi technology in the past 10 years, biotech industry is seeking for new applications aimed at producing environmentally friendly genetic insecticides or genetically modified plants (GMPs) that induce environmental RNAi in the targeted insect species. These technologies are expected on the market at the end of this decade. In this chapter, we exploit established methods involving recent initiatives of RNAi technology with respect to the development of new bio-insecticidal formulations.

Part of the book: Biological Control of Pest and Vector Insects

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