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

Website: http://www.fao.org/ag/agp/agpc/doc/services/pbn.html

Published: June 30, 2009