Insect resistance management for Syngenta's VipCot transgenic cotton

Syngenta is seeking commercial registration for VipCot cotton, a pyramided transgenic cotton trait that expresses two insecticidal proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis Vip3A and Cry1Ab. Both proteins are highly effective against two key cotton pests, Helicoverpa zea cotton bollworm; and Heliothis virescens, tobacco budworm. To investigate the role of VipCot cotton in delaying the development of resistance in these pests to transgenic Bt traits, Syngenta has performed studies to determine the dose of proteins expressed in VipCot and evaluate the potential for cross-resistance between the component proteins. Following United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) high dose methods 1 and 4, VipCot was shown to express a high dose of proteins for H. zea and H. virescens. VipCot was also confirmed to express a high dose of proteins for H. zea through US EPA Method 5. Additionally, all the data collected to date verify a lack of cross-resistance between Vip3A and Cry proteins. These two key pieces of information indicate that VipCot cotton should be very durable under the currently mandated high dose plus refuge insect resistance management strategy.     

Landscape refuges delay resistance of the European corn borer to Bt-maize: a demo-genetic dynamic model

We constructed a reaction-diffusion model of the development of resistance to transgenic insecticidal Bt crops in pest populations. Kostitzin’s demo-genetic model describes local interactions between three competing pest genotypes with alleles conferring resistance or susceptibility to transgenic plants, the spatial spread of insects being modelled by diffusion. This new approach makes it possible to combine a spatial demographic model of population dynamics with classical genetic theory. We used this model to examine the effects of pest dispersal and of the size and shape of the refuge on the efficiency of the “high-dose/refuge” strategy, which was designed to prevent the development of resistance in populations of insect pests, such as the European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis Hübner (Lepidoptera, Crambidae). We found that, with realistic combinations of refuge size and pest dispersal, the development of resistance could be considerably delayed. With a small to medium-sized farming area, contiguous refuge plots are more efficient than a larger number of smaller refuge patches. We also show that the formal coupling of classical Fisher–Haldane–Wright population genetics equations with diffusion terms inaccurately describes the development of resistance in a spatially heterogeneous pest population, notably overestimating the speed with which Bt resistance is selected in populations of pests targeted by Bt crops.     

Monitoring and adaptive resistance management in Australia for Bt-cotton: current status and future challenges

In the mid-1990 s the Australian Cotton industry adopted an insect-resistant variety of cotton (Ingard) which expresses the Bt toxin Cry1Ac that is specific to a group of insects including the target Helicoverpa armigera. A conservative resistance management plan (RMP), that restricted the area planted to Ingard, was implemented to preserve the efficacy of Cry1Ac until two-gene transgenic cotton was available. In 2004/05 Bollgard II replaced Ingard as the transgenic cotton available in Australia. It improves on Ingard by incorporating an additional insecticidal protein (Cry2Ab). If an appropriate refuge is grown, there is no restriction on the area planted to Bollgard II. In 2004/05 and 2005/06 the Bollgard II acreage represented approximately 80 of the total area planted to cotton in Australia. The sensitivity of field-collected populations of H. armigera to Bt products was assayed before and subsequent to the widespread deployment of Ingard cotton. In 2002 screens against Cry2Ab were developed in preparation for replacement of Ingard with Bollgard II. There have been no reported field failures of Bollgard II due to resistance. However, while alleles that confer resistance to H. armigera in the field are rare for Cry1Ac, they are surprisingly common for Cry2Ab. We present an overview of the current approach adopted in Australia to monitor and adaptively manage resistance to Bt-cotton in field populations of H. armigera and discuss the implications of our findings to date. We also highlight future challenges for resistance management in Australia, many of which extend to other Bt-crop and pest systems.     

Genetic variation in fitness parameters associated with resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis in male and female Trichoplusia ni

Resistance of insects to insecticides is often associated with reduced fitness in the absence of selection. We examined fitness trade-offs associated with resistance to the microbial insecticide, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), across full-sib families in a resistant population of Trichoplusia ni. Significant genetic variation in and heritability of susceptibility to Bt occurred among the full-sib families. Male pupal weight was positively correlated with Bt susceptibility, indicating a potential fitness cost, but no such correlation occurred for females. Significant heritability for pupal weight was present for males but not females. A significant negative genetic correlation existed between development time and Bt susceptibility, indicating that resistant larvae developed more slowly than susceptible larvae. Selection for Bt resistance in T. ni resulted in changes in life-history traits that affected males more than females.     

Pathogen resistance of transgenic tobacco plants producing caffeine

Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is a typical purine alkaloid, and produced by a variety of plants such as coffee and tea. Its physiological function, however, is not completely understood, but chemical defense against pathogens and herbivores, and allelopathic effects against competing plant species have been proposed. Previously, we constructed transgenic tobacco plants, which produced caffeine up to 5 microg per gram fresh weight of leaves, and showed them to repel caterpillars of tobacco cutworms (Spodoptera litura). In the present study, we found that these transgenic plants constitutively expressed defense-related genes encoding pathogenesis-related (PR)-1a and proteinase inhibitor II under non-stressed conditions. We also found that they were highly resistant against pathogens, tobacco mosaic virus and Pseudomonas syringae. Expression of PR-1a and PR-2 was higher in transgenic plants than in wild-type plants during infection. Exogenously applied caffeine to wild-type tobacco leaves exhibited the similar resistant activity. These results suggested that caffeine stimulated endogenous defense system of host plants through directly or indirectly activating gene expression. This assumption is essentially consistent with the idea of chemical defense, in which caffeine may act as one of signaling molecules to activate defense response. It is thus conceivable that the effect of caffeine is bifunctional; direct interference with pest metabolic pathways, and activation of host defense systems.     

Stacking of antimicrobial genes in potato transgenic plants confers increased resistance to bacterial and fungal pathogens

Solanum tuberosum plants were transformed with three genetic constructions expressing the Nicotiana tabacum AP24 osmotine, Phyllomedusa sauvagii dermaseptin and Gallus gallus lysozyme, and with a double-transgene construction expressing the AP24 and lysozyme sequences. Re-transformation of dermaseptin-transformed plants with the AP24/lysozyme construction allowed selection of plants simultaneously expressing the three transgenes. Potato lines expressing individual transgenes or double- and triple-transgene combinations were assayed for resistance to Erwinia carotovora using whole-plant and tuber infection assays. Resistance levels for both infection tests compared consistently for most potato lines and allowed selection of highly resistant phenotypes. Higher resistance levels were found in lines carrying the dermaseptin and lysozyme sequences, indicating that theses proteins are the major contributors to antibacterial activity. Similar results were obtained in tuber infection tests conducted with Streptomyces scabies. Plant lines showing the higher resistance to bacterial infections were challenged with Phytophthora infestans, Rhizoctonia solani and Fusarium solani. Considerable levels of resistance to each of these pathogens were evidenced employing semi-quantitative tests based in detached-leaf inoculation, fungal growth inhibition and in vitro plant inoculation. On the basis of these results, we propose that stacking of these transgenes is a promising approach to achieve resistance to both bacterial and fungal pathogens.     

Characterization of resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis toxin Cry1Ac in Plutella xylostella from China

A field population (SZ) of Plutella xylostella, collected from the cabbage field in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province of China in 2002, showed 2.3-fold resistance to Cry1Aa, 110-fold to Cry1Ab, 30-fold to Cry1Ac, 2.1-fold to Cry1F, 5.3-fold to Cry2Aa and 6-fold resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (Btk) compared with a susceptible strain (ROTH). The SZBT strain was derived from the SZ population through 20 generations of selection with activated Cry1Ac in the laboratory. While the SZBT strain developed 1200-fold resistance to Cry1Ac after selection, resistance to Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1F, and Btk increased to 31-, 1900-,>33- and 17-fold compared with the ROTH strain. However, little or no cross-resistance was detected to Cry1B, Cry1C and Cry2Aa in the SZBT strain. Genetic cross analyses between the SZBT and ROTH strains revealed that Cry1Ac-resistance in the SZBT strain was controlled by a single, autosomal, incompletely recessive gene. Binding studies with ¹²⁵I-labeled Cry1Ac showed that the brush border membrane vesicles (BBMVs) of midguts from the resistant SZBT insects had lost binding to Cry1Ac. Allelic complementation tests demonstrated that the major Bt resistance locus in the SZBT strain was same as that in the Cry1Ac-R strain which has “mode 1” resistance to Bt. An F₁ screen of 120 single-pair families between the SZBT strain and three field populations collected in 2008 was carried out. Based on this approach, the estimated frequencies of Cry1Ac-resistance alleles were 0.156 in the Yuxi population from Yunnan province, and 0.375 and 0.472 respectively in the Guangzhou and Huizhou populations from Guangdong province.     

受体介导的鳞翅目昆虫对Bt毒素抗性机制进展

苏云金芽孢杆菌作为一种对人畜安全、环境友好型绿色杀虫剂在全球被广泛使用。Bt毒素与昆虫中肠上特定毒素受体结合并发挥作用,形成毒素穿孔导致昆虫死亡是其重要的杀虫机制之一,靶标害虫对Bt毒素产生抗性是制约转Bt作物长期有效种植和Bt毒素持续使用的重要因素。文中从鳞翅目昆虫中肠细胞Bt毒素重要受体的研究阐述昆虫对Bt的抗性机制,为Bt抗性机制的深入研究和对害虫的防控与治理提供了一定的理论参考。     

The diversity of Bt resistance genes in species of Lepidoptera

Although the mode of action of Cry1A toxins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis is fairly well understood, knowledge of the molecular mechanisms by which lepidopteran species have evolved resistance to them is still in its infancy. The most common type of resistance has been called "Mode 1" and is characterized by recessive inheritance, >500-fold resistance to and reduced binding by at least one Cry1A toxin, and negligible cross-resistance to Cry1C. In three lepidopteran species, Heliothis virescens, Pectinophora gossypiella, and Helicoverpa armigera, Mode 1 resistance is caused by mutations in a toxin-binding 12-cadherin-domain protein expressed in the larval midgut. These mutations all interrupt the primary sequence of the protein and prevent its normal localization in the membrane, presumably removing a major toxic binding target of the Cry1A toxins. In Plutella xylostella, however, Mode 1 resistance appears to be caused by a different genetic mechanism, as Cry1A resistance is unlinked to the cadherin gene. Mapping studies in H. virescens have detected an additional major Cry1A resistance gene, which on the basis of comparative linkage mapping is distinct from the one in P. xylostella. An additional resistance mechanism supported by genetic data involves a protoxin-processing protease in Plodia interpunctella, and this is likely to be different from the genes mapped in Plutella and Heliothis. Thus, resistance to Cry1A toxins in species of Lepidoptera has a complex genetic basis, with at least four distinct, major resistance genes of which three are mapped in one or more species. The connection between resistance genes and the mechanisms they encode remains a challenging task to elucidate.     

Effects of infection with Nosema pyrausta on survival and development of offspring of laboratory selected Bt-resistant and Bt-susceptible European corn borers

Infection with Nosema pyrausta Paillot lengthens developmental period of Bt-susceptible Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) to a similar extent as feeding on Cry1Ab-incorporated diet in Cry1Ab-resistant O. nubilalis, and these two factors combined lengthen developmental period further than either alone. Resistant O. nubilalis mating with infected susceptible, or infected resistant partners would produce partially- and fully-resistant offspring, respectively, infected with N. pyrausta. To investigate the impacts on the progeny of such matings, test crosses were set up to produce partially- and fully Cry1Ab-resistant O. nubilalis offspring transovarially infected and not infected with N. pyrausta, which were exposed to Cry1Ab toxin at doses of 0, 3, or 30 ng/cm² for 7 days. Transovarial infection with N. pyrausta significantly decreased 7 day survival of partially and fully-resistant O. nubilalis feeding on 30 ng/cm² Cry1Ab. In addition, N. pyrausta infection delayed larval development (as measured by weight) of partially- and fully-resistant O. nubilalis feeding on 3 and 30 ng/cm² Cry1Ab. Impacts of natural enemies on target pests may have the potential to impact evolution of resistance. N pyrausta-infected O. nubilalis are more strongly affected by feeding on Bt, and would be less likely to survive to adulthood to pass on resistance to the next generation. This indigenous microsporidium may work to delay evolution of resistance in O. nubilalis by lowering their ability to survive on Bt.     

Evolution of resistance toward Bacillus sphaericus or a mixture of B. sphaericus+Cyt1A from Bacillus thuringiensis, in the mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae)

The 2362 strain of Bacillus sphaericus (Bs) Neide is a highly mosquitocidal bacterium used in commercial bacterial larvicides primarily to control mosquitoes of the genus Culex. Unfortunately, Bs is at high risk for selecting resistance in mosquito populations, because its binary toxin apparently only binds to a single receptor type on midgut microvilli. A potential key strategy for delaying resistance to insecticidal proteins is to use mixtures of toxins that act at different targets within the insect, especially mixtures that interact synergistically. We tested this hypothesis for delaying the phenotypic expression of resistance by exposing Culex quinquefasciatus Say larvae to Bs alone or in combination with Cyt1A from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. Two laboratory lines of Cx. quinquefasciatus, one sensitive to Bs and the other containing Bs resistance alleles, were subjected to intensive selection pressure for 20 generations with either Bs 2362 or a 3:1 mixture of Bs 2362+Cyt1A. At the end of the study, the sensitive line had evolved >1000-fold resistance when selected with Bs alone, whereas the parallel line selected with Bs+Cyt1A exhibited only low resistance toward this mixture (RR95, 1.4). Similar results were observed in the lines containing Bs resistance alleles. Both lines selected with Bs+Cyt1A exhibited substantial resistance to Bs in the absence of Cyt1A. Although selection with Bs+Cyt1A did not prevent the underlying evolution of resistance to Bs, these results suggest that a mixture of Bs with other endotoxins, particularly one like Bs+Cyt1A in which the components interact synergistically, will provide longer lasting and more effective mosquito control than Bs alone.     

Screen of Bacillus thuringiensis toxins for transgenic rice to control Sesamia inferens and Chilo suppressalis

Transgenic rice to control stem borer damage is under development in China. To assess the potential of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenes in stem borer control, the toxicity of five Bt protoxins (Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1Ba and Cry1Ca) against two rice stem borers, Sesamia inferens (pink stem borer) and Chilo suppressalis (striped stem borer), was evaluated in the laboratory by feeding neonate larvae on artificial diets containing Bt protoxins. The results indicated that Cry1Ca exhibited the highest level of toxicity to both stem borers, with an LC₅₀ of 0.24 and 0.30 μg/g for C. suppressalis and S. inferens, respectively. However, S. inferens was 4-fold lower in susceptibility to Cry1Aa, and 6- and 47-fold less susceptible to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ba, respectively, compared to C. suppressalis. To evaluate interactions among Bt protoxins in stem borer larvae, toxicity assays were performed with mixtures of Cry1Aa/Cry1Ab, Cry1Aa/Cry1Ca, Cry1Ac/Cry1Ca, Cry1Ac/Cry1Ba, Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac, Cry1Ab/Cry1Ba, and Cry1Ab/Cry1Ca at 1:1 (w/w) ratios. All protoxin mixtures demonstrated significant synergistic toxicity activity against C. suppressalis, with values of 1.6- to 11-fold higher toxicity than the theoretical additive effect. Surprisingly, all but one of the Bt protoxin mixtures were antagonistic in toxicity to S. inferens. In mortality-time response experiments, S. inferens demonstrated increased tolerance to Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac compared to C. suppressalis when treated with low or high protoxin concentrations. The data indicate the utility of Cry1Ca protoxin and a Cry1Ac/Cry1Ca mixture to control both stem borer populations.     

Cross-resistance and mechanism of resistance to Cry1Ab toxin from Bacillus thuringiensis in a field-derived strain of European corn borer, Ostrinia nubilalis

The cross-resistance spectrum and biochemical mechanism of resistance to the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab toxin was studied in a field-derived strain of Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) that was further selected in the laboratory for high levels (>1000-fold) of resistance to Cry1Ab. The resistant strain exhibited high levels of cross-resistance to Cry1Ac and Cry1Aa but only low levels of cross-resistance (<4-fold) to Cry1F. In addition, there was no significant difference between the levels of resistance to full-length and trypsin-activated Cry1Ab protein. No differences in activity of luminal gut proteases or altered proteolytic processing of the toxin were observed in the resistant strain. Significantly reduced binding of radiolabeled Cry1Aa was observed in the resistant strain whereas binding of Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac was practically the same in both resistant and susceptible strains. The interpretation of the overall data seems to suggest the involvement of an alteration in the binding of Cry1A toxins to a common receptor, which is more clearly revealed by the binding assays using radiolabeled Cry1Aa.     

Susceptibility of Cry1Ab-resistant and -susceptible sugarcane borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) to four Bacillus thuringiensis toxins

Sugarcane borer, Diatraea saccharalis (F.), is a primary corn stalk borer pest targeted by transgenic corn expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins in many areas of the mid-southern region of the United States. Recently, genes encoding for Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 Bt proteins were transferred into corn plants (event MON 89034) for controlling lepidopteran pests. This new generation of Bt corn with stacked-genes of Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 will become commercially available in 2009. Susceptibility of Cry1Ab-susceptible and -resistant strains of D. saccharalis were evaluated on four selected Bt proteins including Cry1Aa, Cry1Ac, Cry1A.105, and Cry2Ab2. The Cry1Ab-resistant strain is capable of completing its larval development on commercial Cry1Ab-expressing corn plants. Neonates of D. saccharalis were assayed on a meridic diet containing one of the four Cry proteins. Larval mortality, body weight, and number of surviving larvae that did not gain significant weight (<0.1 mg per larva) were recorded after 7 days. Cry1Aa was the most toxic protein against both insect strains, followed in decreasing potency by Cry1A.105, Cry1Ac, and Cry2Ab2. Using practical mortality (larvae either died or no significant weight gain after 7 days), the median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) of the Cry1Ab-resistant strain was estimated to be >80-, 45-, 4.1-, and −0.5-fold greater than that of the susceptible strain to Cry1Aa, Cry1Ac, Cry1A.105 and Cry2Ab2 proteins, respectively. This information should be useful to support the commercialization of the new Bt corn event MON 89034 for managing D. saccharalis in the mid-southern region of the United States.     

Effects of Bt plants on the development and survival of the parasitoid Cotesia plutellae (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in susceptible and Bt-resistant larvae of the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella (Lepidoptera: Plutellidae)

A range of crops have been transformed with delta-endotoxin genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to produce transgenic plants with high levels of resistance to lepidopteran pests. Parasitoids are important natural enemies of lepidopteran larvae and the effects of Bt plants on these non-target insects have to be investigated to avoid unnecessary disruption of biological control. This study investigated the effects of Cry1Ac-expressing transgenic oilseed rape (Brassica napus) on the solitary braconid endoparasitoid Cotesia plutellae in small-scale laboratory experiments. C. plutellae is an important natural enemy of the diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella), the most important pest of brassica crops world-wide. Bt oilseed rape caused 100% mortality of a Bt-susceptible P. xylostella strain but no mortality of the Bt-resistant P. xylostella strain NO-QA. C. plutellae eggs laid in Bt-susceptible hosts feeding on Bt leaves hatched but premature host mortality did not allow C. plutellae larvae to complete their development. In contrast, C. plutellae developed to maturity in Bt-resistant hosts fed on Bt oilseed rape leaves and there was no effect of Bt plants on percentage parasitism, time to emergence from hosts, time to adult emergence and percentage adult emergence from cocoons. Weights of female progeny after development in Bt-resistant hosts did not differ between plant types but male progeny was significantly heavier on wildtype plants in one of two experiments. The proportion of female progeny was significantly higher on Bt plants in the first experiment with Bt-resistant hosts but this effect was not observed again when the experiment was repeated.     

Implications of transgenic, insecticidal plants for insect and plant biodiversity

Genetically modified plants are widely grown predominantly in North America and to a lesser extent in Australia, Argentina and China but their regions of production are expected to spread soon beyond these limited areas also reaching Europe where great controversy over the application of gene technology in agriculture persists. Currently, several cultivars of eight major crop plants are commercially available including canola, corn, cotton, potato, soybean, sugar beet, tobacco and tomato, but many more plants with new and combined multiple traits are close to registration. While currently agronomic traits (herbicide resistance, insect resistance) dominate, traits conferring “quality” traits (altered oil compositions, protein and starch contents) will begin to dominate within the next years. However, economically the most promising future lies in the development and marketing of crop plants expressing pharmaceutical or “nutraceuticals” (functional foods), and plants that express a number of different genes. From this it is clear that future agricultural and, ultimately, also natural ecosystems will be challenged by the large-scale introduction of entirely novel genes and gene products in new combinations at high frequencies all of which will have unknown impacts on their associated complex of non-target organisms, i.e. all organisms that are not targeted by the insecticidal protein. In times of severe global decline of biodiversity, pro-active precaution is necessary and careful consideration of the likely expected effects of transgenic plants on biodiversity of plants and insects is mandatory.In this paper possible implications of non-target effects for insect and plant biodiversity are discussed and a case example of such non-target effects is presented. In a multiple year research project, tritrophic and bitrophic effects of transgenic corn, expressing the gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt-corn) that codes for the high expression of an insecticidal toxin (Cry1Ab), on the natural enemy species, Chrysoperla carnea (the green lacewing), was investigated. In these laboratory trials, we found prey-mediated effects of transgenic Bt-corn causing significantly higher mortality of C. carnea larvae. In further laboratory trials, we confirmed that the route of exposure (fed directly or via a herbivorous prey) and the origin of the Bt (from transgenic plants or incorporated into artificial diet) strongly influenced the degree of mortality. In choice feeding trials where C. carnea could choose between Spodoptera littoralis fed transgenic Bt-corn and S. littoralis fed non-transgenic corn, larger instars showed a significant preference for S. littoralis fed non-transgenic corn while this was not the case when the choice was between Bt- and isogenic corn fed aphids. Field implications of these findings could be multifold but will be difficult to assess because they interfere in very intricate ways with complex ecosystem processes that we still know only very little about. The future challenge in pest management will be to explore how transgenic plants can be incorporated as safe and effective components of IPM systems and what gene technology can contribute to the needs of a modern sustainable agriculture that avoids or reduces adverse impacts on biodiversity? For mainly economically motivated resistance management purposes, constitutive high expression of Bt-toxins in transgenic plants is promoted seeking to kill almost 100% of all susceptible (and if possible heterozygote resistant) target pest insects. However, for pest management this is usually not necessary. Control at or below an established economic injury level is sufficient for most pests and cropping systems. It is proposed that partially or moderately resistant plants expressing quantitative rather than single gene traits and affecting the target pest sub-lethally may provide a more meaningful contribution of agricultural biotechnology to modern sustainable agriculture. Some examples of such plants produced through conventional breeding are presented. Non-target effects may be less severe allowing for better incorporation of these plants into IPM or biological control programs using multiple control strategies, thereby, also reducing selection pressure for pest resistance development.     

Tobacco plants expressing the Cry1AbMod toxin suppress tolerance to Cry1Ab toxin of Manduca sexta cadherin-silenced larvae

Cry toxins produced by Bacillus thuringiensis bacteria are insecticidal proteins used worldwide in the control of different insect pests. Alterations in toxin-receptor interaction represent the most common mechanism to induce resistance to Cry toxins in lepidopteran insects. Cry toxins bind with high affinity to the cadherin protein present in the midgut cells and this interaction facilitates the proteolytic removal of helix ??-1 and pre-pore oligomer formation. Resistance to Cry toxins has been linked with mutations in the cadherin gene. One strategy effective to overcome larval resistance to Cry1A toxins is the production of Cry1AMod toxins that lack helix ??-1. Cry1AMod are able to form oligomeric structures without binding to cadherin receptor and were shown to be toxic to cadherin-silenced Manduca sexta larvae and Pectinophora gossypiella strain with resistance linked to mutations in a cadherin gene.We developed Cry1AbMod tobacco transgenic plants to analyze if Cry1AMod toxins can be expressed in transgenic crops, do not affect plant development and are able to control insect pests. Our results show that production of the Cry1AbMod toxin in transgenic plants does not affect plant development, since these plants exhibited healthy growth, produced abundant seeds, and were virtually undistinguishable from control plants. Most importantly, Cry1AbMod protein produced in tobacco plants retains its functional toxic activity against susceptible and tolerant M. sexta larvae due to the silencing of cadherin receptor by RNAi. These results suggest that CryMod toxins could potentially be expressed in other transgenic crops to protect them against both toxin-susceptible and resistant lepidopteran larvae affected in cadherin gene.     

Chemical-induced autoexcision of selectable markers in elite tomato plants transformed with a gene conferring resistance to lepidopteran insects

Marker-free transgenic tomato plants harboring a synthetic Bacillus thuringiensis endotoxin gene, cryIAc, were obtained by using a chemically regulated, Cre/loxP-mediated site-specific DNA recombination system, in which the selectable marker neomycin phosphotransferase gene flanked by two directly oriented loxP sites was located between the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and a promoterless cryIAc. Upon induction by 2 μM β-estradiol, sequences encoding the selectable marker and cre sandwiched by two loxP sites were excised from the tomato genome, leading to activation of the downstream endotoxin gene cryIAc with high expression levels as shown by Northern blot and ELISA assay (250–790 ng g⁻¹ fresh wt) in T₁ generation. For transgenic line with single transgenic loci, 15% of T₁ progenies were revealed marker-free. This autoexcision strategy provides an effective approach to eliminate a selectable marker gene from transgenic tomato, thus expediting the public acceptance of genetically modified crop.     

Single nucleotide deletion of cqm1 gene results in the development of resistance to Bacillus sphaericus in Culex quinquefasciatus

The entomopathogen Bacillus sphaericus is one of the most effective biolarvicides used to control the Culex species of mosquito. The appearance of resistance in mosquitoes to this bacterium, however, remains a threat to its continuous use in integrated mosquito control programs. Previous work showed that the resistance to B. sphaericus in Culex colonies was associated with the absence of the 60-kDa binary toxin receptor (Cpm1/Cqm1), an alpha-glucosidase present in the larval midgut microvilli. In this work, we studied the molecular basis of the resistance developed by Culex quinquefasciatus to B. sphaericus C3-41. The cqm1 genes were cloned from susceptible (CqSL) and resistant (CqRL/C3-41) colonies, respectively. The sequence of the cDNA and genomic DNA derived from CqRL/C3-41 colony differed from that of CqSL one by a one-nucleotide deletion which resulted in a premature stop codon, leading to production of a truncated protein. Recombinant Cqm1S from the CqSL colony expressed in Escherichia coli specifically bound to the Bin toxin and had α-glucosidase activity, whereas the Cqm1R from the CqRL/C3-41 colony, with a deletion of three quarters of the receptor’s C-terminal lost its α-glucosidase activity and could not bind to the binary toxin. Immunoblotting experiments showed that Cqm1 was undetectable in CqRL/C3-41 larvae, although the gene was correctly transcribed. Thus, the cqm1R represents a new allele in C. quinquefasciatus that confers resistance to B. sphaericus.     

The compatibility of a nucleopolyhedrosis virus control with resistance management for Bacillus thuringiensis: co-infection and cross-resistance studies with the diamondback moth, Plutella xylostella

The use of genetically modified crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins can lead to the reduction in application of broad-spectrum pesticides and an increased opportunity for supplementary biological control. Bt microbial sprays are also used by organic growers or as part of integrated pest management programs that rely on the use of natural enemies. In both applications the evolution of resistance to Bt toxins is a potential problem. Natural enemies (pathogens or insects) acting in combination with toxins can accelerate or decelerate the evolution of resistance to Bt. In the present study we investigated whether the use of a nucleopolyhedrovirus (AcMNPV) could potentially affect the evolution of resistance to the Bt toxin Cry1Ac in Plutella xylostella. At low toxin doses there was evidence for antagonistic interactions between AcMNPV and Cry1Ac resistant and susceptible insects. However, this antagonism was much stronger and more widespread for susceptible larvae; interactions were generally not distinguishable from additive for resistant larvae. Selection for resistance to Cry1Ac in two populations of P. xylostella with differing resistance mechanisms did not produce any correlated changes in resistance to AcMNPV. Stronger antagonistic interactions between Bt and AcMNPV on susceptible rather than resistant larvae can decrease the relative fitness between Bt-resistant and susceptible larvae. These interactions and the lack of cross-resistance between virus and toxin suggest that the use of NPV is compatible with resistance management to Bt products.