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Enhancing the resilience of transgenic cotton for insect resistance

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Abstract

Background

The efficacy of Bt crystal proteins has been compromised due to their extensive utilization in the field. The second-generation Bt vegetative insecticidal proteins could be the best-suited alternative to combat resistance build-up due to their broad range affinity with midgut receptors of insects.

Material and results

The codon-optimized synthetic vegetative insecticidal proteins (Vip3Aa) gene under the control of CaMV35S promoter was transformed into a locally developed transgenic cotton variety (CKC-01) expressing cry1Ac and cry2A genes. Transformation efficiency of 1.63% was recorded. The highest Vip3Aa expression (51.98-fold) was found in MS3 transgenic cotton plant. Maximum Vip3Aa protein concentration (4.23 µg/mL) was calculated in transgenic cotton plant MS3 through ELISA. The transgenic cotton plant (MS3) showed one copy number on both chromatids in the homozygous form at chromosome 8 at the telophase stage. Almost 99% mortality of H. armigera was recorded in transgenic cotton plants expressing double crystal proteins pyramided with Vip3Aa gene as contrasted to transgenic cotton plant expressing only double crystal protein with 70% mortality.

Conclusions

The results obtained during this study suggest that the combination of Bt cry1Ac, cry2A, and Vip3Aa toxins is the best possible alternative approach to combat chewing insects.

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Acknowledgements

This study was a part of HEC- funded project (National Research Program for Universities, grant number 8243). The authors would also like to acknowledge the financial contribution of the Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab Lahore, Pakistan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Pakistan

    Mohsin Shad, Aneela Yasmeen, Saira Azam, Allah Bakhsh, Ayesha Latif, Naila Shahid,  Salah ud din, Sahar Sadaqat, Abdul Qayyum Rao & Ahmad Ali Shahid

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  1. Mohsin Shad
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  2. Aneela Yasmeen
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  3. Saira Azam
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  4. Allah Bakhsh
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  7. Salah ud din
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  9. Abdul Qayyum Rao
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  10. Ahmad Ali Shahid
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All authors equally contributed and gave their final approval to the submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Allah Bakhsh.

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Shad, M., Yasmeen, A., Azam, S. et al. Enhancing the resilience of transgenic cotton for insect resistance. Mol Biol Rep 49, 5315–5323 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06972-z

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