Parasitic nematodes are a major threat to global food security, particularly as the world amasses 10 billion people amid limited arable land^1,2,3,4. Most traditional nematicides have been banned owing to poor nematode selectivity, leaving farmers with inadequate means of pest control^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12}. Here we use the model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to identify a family of selective imidazothiazole nematicides, called selectivins, that undergo cytochrome-p450-mediated bioactivation in nematodes. At low parts-per-million concentrations, selectivins perform comparably well with commercial nematicides to control root infection by Meloidogyne incognita, a highly destructive plant-parasitic nematode. Tests against numerous phylogenetically diverse non-target systems demonstrate that selectivins are more nematode-selective than most marketed nematicides. Selectivins are first-in-class bioactivated nematode controls that provide efficacy and nematode selectivity.

寄生线虫是对全球粮食安全的主要威胁，尤其是在世界上有 100 亿人口且耕地面积有限的情况下^1,2,3,4。由于对线虫的选择性差，大多数传统杀线虫剂已被禁用，使农民的害虫控制手段不足^{4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12}。在这里，我们使用模型线虫秀丽隐杆线虫来识别选择性咪唑并噻唑杀线虫剂家族，称为选择素，在线虫中经历细胞色素-p450 介导的生物激活。在低百万分之一的浓度下，选择素在控制根结线虫根部感染方面的表现与商业杀线虫剂相当，一种极具破坏性的植物寄生线虫。针对许多系统发育不同的非目标系统的测试表明，选择素比大多数市售杀线虫剂更具线虫选择性。Selectivins 是一流的生物活化线虫控制剂，可提供功效和线虫选择性。