Abstract
Developing transgenics that express high levels of Cry1Ac protein, and at the same time, are phenotypically normal, has not been an easy task to achieve. It has been routinely observed that most of the transgenic plants that survive, show no or extremely low levels of Cry1Ac protein. However, all of these plants do express the selectable marker, nptII gene. In the present study, we record an interesting observation of how one of the genes (cry1Ac) on a single T-DNA fragment is selectively silenced, keeping the expression of the other gene (nptII) intact. Further, this silenced state is inherited.
Highlights
Insect resistant Bt cotton is the only commercialized genetically modified crop in India so far
It has been hypothesised that due to these adverse effects there is an enrichment of transgenic events which either do not express or express extremely low levels of the Cry1Ac protein
The present study showed that transcriptional silencing of the cry1Ac gene was the reason for absence of the protein in the non-expressors
Summary
Insect resistant Bt cotton is the only commercialized genetically modified crop in India so far. From a few hectares when introduced in 2002, the transgenic cotton occupies about 95% of the total cotton-growing acreage of 12.25 million hectares [1] in India. The use of Bt cotton, which kills these lepidopteran pests, has been a boon to the cotton industry. The insecticidal transgenic crop, utilizes the δ-endotoxin produced by the ubiquitously present, Gram-positive bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis to kill the attacking pests. Bacillus thuringiensis contains an array of insecticidal toxins including Cry proteins, cytolysins (Cyt toxins), enterotoxins, chitinases, hemolysins, phospholipases etc. Bt cotton exploits the insecticidal activity of the Cry proteins. This is a very robust technique as the cry genes are extremely specific in terms of their target insect group
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