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A QTL that enhances and broadens Bt insect resistance in soybean

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Abstract

Effective strategies are needed to manage insect resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) proteins expressed in transgenic crops. To evaluate a multiple resistance gene pyramiding strategy, eight soybean (Glycine max) lines possessing factorial combinations of two quantitative trait loci (QTLs) from plant introduction (PI) 229358 and a synthetic Bt cry1Ac gene were developed using marker-assisted selection with simple sequence repeat markers. Field studies were conducted in 2000 and 2001 to evaluate resistance to corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) and soybean looper (Pseudoplusia includens), and detached leaf bioassays were used to test antibiosis resistance to Bt-resistant and Bt-susceptible strains of tobacco budworm (TBW; Heliothis virescens). Based on defoliation in the field and larval weight gain on detached leaves, lines carrying a combination of cry1Ac and the PI 229358 allele at a QTL on linkage group M were significantly more resistant to the lepidopteran pests, including the Bt-resistant TBW strain, than were the other lines. This is the first report of a complementary additive effect between a Bt transgene and a plant insect resistance QTL with an uncharacterized mode of action that was introgressed using marker-assisted selection.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Fred Gould of North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., USA, for furnishing the tobacco budworm eggs, and Kurk Lance, Dale Wood, Gina Rowan, Earl Baxter, and Erin Leggett for assistance with the field, greenhouse, and laboratory studies. This work was funded through the USDA National Research Initiative Competitive Grants Program (Grant no. 9801149).

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Author notes

  1. James M. Narvel

    Present address: Monsanto Company, Galena, MD, 21635, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Crop and Soil Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    David R. Walker, James M. Narvel, H. Roger Boerma & Wayne A. Parrott

  2. Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    John N. All

  3. 102 Center for Applied Genetic Technologies, 111 Riverbend Road, Athens, GA, 30602-6810, USA

    Wayne A. Parrott

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  1. David R. Walker
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  2. James M. Narvel
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  5. Wayne A. Parrott
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Correspondence to Wayne A. Parrott.

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Communicated by J. Snape

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Walker, D.R., Narvel, J.M., Boerma, H.R. et al. A QTL that enhances and broadens Bt insect resistance in soybean. Theor Appl Genet 109, 1051–1057 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-004-1714-9

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