Nature Biotechnology21, 1222 - 1228 (2003)
Published online: 31 August 2003; | doi:10.1038/nbt866
Insect resistance conferred by 283-kDa Photorhabdus luminescens protein TcdA in Arabidopsis thaliana
Dong Liu, Stephanie Burton, Todd Glancy, Ze-Sheng Li, Ronnie Hampton, Thomas Meade
& Donald J Merlo
Dow AgroSciences LLC, 9330 Zionsville Road, Indianapolis, Indiana 46268, USA.
Correspondence should be addressed to Dong Liu dliu@dow.com
The tcdA gene of Photorhabdus luminescens encodes a 283-kDa protein, toxin A, that is highly toxic to a variety of insects, including some agriculturally important pests. We tested the efficacy of transgenic toxin A in Arabidopsis thaliana for control of feeding insects. Plants with toxin A expression above about 700 ng/mg of extractable protein were highly toxic to tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta). Toxin A isolated from transgenic plants also strongly inhibited growth of the southern corn rootworm (Diabrotica undecimpunctata howardi). Addition of 5' and 3' untranslated regions of a tobacco osmotin gene (osm) increased toxin A production 10-fold and recovery of insect-resistant lines 12-fold. In the best line, high toxin A expression and insect resistance were maintained for at least five generations in all progeny. The intact tcdA mRNA represents the largest effective transgenic transcript produced in plants to date. These results may open a new route to transgenic pest control in agriculture.
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