The dread cabbage looper. (credit: Peggy Greb/USDA)
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops have been one of the most successful applications of genetic engineering in agriculture. The crops carry a gene that encodes a bacterial protein that kills insects that ingest it. While it's possible to spray crops with the Bt toxin instead, farms that rely on Bt GMO crops are more profitable, have higher productivity, and use less pesticides.
Unfortunately, evolution isn't sitting still, and Bt-resistant insects are beginning to become a problem. While scientists are developing new crops with other Bt genes and farmers can adopt agricultural practices that limit the risk of resistance, some researchers decided to short-circuit the whole process. In a new paper, they figured out how to evolve a completely new Bt toxin in a virus that infects bacteria and showed that it was effective in killing insects.
The basics of Bt
The researchers' work highlights the importance of basic, fundamental research—while a handful of the research team worked at Monsanto, two-thirds came from various academic institutions. And the work relies on some basic information that's not essential to using Bt in GMOs.
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