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Bt cotton gets freedom from pests

A breakthrough made by scientists at Delhi University has made it possible to increase Bt cotton’s resistance to pests.

They did this by combining two genes which improve production of Bt toxins. When the two genes are combined in a cotton plant, the amount of Bt toxins produced by it goes four to five times higher than the current variety -- a development that can prove crucial in dealing with insect attacks that may increase because of global warming.

Insects are notorious for developing resistance to chemical pesticides and Bt toxins expressed in the plants. Already pink bollworm has broken the protection provided by the current Bt cotton. So with global warming, insect attacks on crops are going to increase.

One Bt toxin protein is targeted at the cytoplasm while the other is targeted at the plastids that are the site of photosynthesis and many other biochemical pathways in the plant.

There is a general consensus among population genetics experts that development of resistance to Bt toxin can be slowed down by growing high dosage toxin plants and by keeping a refuge -- that is, growing some non-Bt plants surrounding Bt crops.

High dosage transgenic has been shown to prolong the life of transgenic cotton in managing American bollworm and other pests.

 
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