Bangalore, India
June 2009
Source: Plant Breeding News*,
Edition 202
Contributed by Dr. Vasudeva Rao, President Ag Technologies,
Metahelix Life Sciences Pvt.
Ltd.
Development of resistance in
target insect populations due to large-scale deployment of a
single gene has been a concern of the scientific community since
the time when transgenic crops started to cover significant
areas of agricultural crops. A possible solution to this has
been to manage resistance development by deploying a range of
genes with different modes of action to delay resistance
development, if at all it develops. Last month, GEAC (Genetic
Engineering Approval Committee), the apex body of Government of
India which decides on matters related to transgenic crops,
approved for commercial cultivation, two Bt cotton hybrids,
MH5125Bt and MH5174Bt, both from Metahelix Life Sciences,
expressing a synthetic gene, Cry1C. The gene is effective
against Spodoptera litura, the voracious leaf eating Tobacco
Caterpillar, which is assuming alarming proportions in cotton
growing areas of India. The gene, in addition, is effective in
controlling American boll worm, Helicoverpa armigera, and
Spotted boll worm, Earias vitella, which are well known boll
worm pests of cotton, and consume large quantity ofinsecticidal
sprays to control them. This truncated version of Cry1C gene was
conceptualized and developed at
Metahelix Life Sciences,
a premier research-based agricultural biotechnology company
located in Bangalore, entirely out of its efforts using local
scientific talent and expertise. This is a completely new gene
and a new version of Bt cotton, very different from the ones
already in the market.
With the release of hybrids expressing the Metahelix gene for
commercial cultivation, the Indian farmer has now one more
option to choose from in controlling the boll worm insect
complex.
*
Plant Breeding News
An Electronic
Newsletter of Applied Plant Breeding
Clair H. Hershey, Editor
Sponsored by
FAO/AGPC and Cornell University,
Dept. of Plant Breeding and Genetics
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