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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Fierce ferns make insect-fighting proteins

Natural compounds could help to protect maize and soya beans against pests that have evolved resistance to conventional insecticides.
An illustration of the Cretan brake fern, Pteris cretica albolineata.

Pests steer clear of crop plants genetically engineered to have certain proteins from the Cretan brake fern (Pteris cretica albolineata, above). Credit: Florilegius/Alamy

Insect-slaying proteins found in some ferns could provide a tool for engineering new pest-resistant crops1.

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Nature 623, 11 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-03281-2

References

  1. Wei, J.-Z. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 120, e2306177120 (2023).

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