Development of transgenic cotton lines harboring a pesticidal gene (cry1Ab)

Abstract

Each transgenic plant has its unique genetic architecture and level of expression. The present study was conducted to study each transgenic plant separately in order to develop pure transgenic lines to be further used in efficient cotton breeding programme. Earlier MNH-93 cultivar was transformed with the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) gene cry1Ab through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation method using mature cotton embryos as explants. Transformed plants obtained out of this transformation event were used to develop pure lines for five consecutive generations. The selection criteria contained confirmation of transgene through PCR and western dot blot, boll damage percentage, insect mortality percentage in lab bioassay with heliothis larvae, seed cotton yield (g), plant height (cm), number of monopodial branches per plant and number of sympodial branches per plant. All the characters were stably inherited in further generations. The expression of introduced genes was found to be variable; however it conferred protection against targeted insect pests. It was concluded that the transgenic pure lines are an excellent source of germplasm to be used in conventional breeding programme.

TRANSGENIC COTTON:HARBORING BROAD TERM RESISTANCE AGAINST INSECT AND WEEDS THROUGH INCORPORATION OF CEMB DOUBLE Bt AND cp4EPSPS GENES

“…The sector employs about 40% of total force and earns approximately US $ 15 billion (Vogel, 2014). Nearly 45-60% of foreign exchange has been procured due to production and consumption of cotton (Batool et al, 2010;Khan et al, 2013;Khan and Khan, 2003). Pakistan being fourth largest producer of cotton suffered 14% of the losses in total agriculture due to insect pest of which 84% is in cotton (Shahid et al, 2012;Awan et al, 2015;Bale et al, 2008), 25% yield losses occur due to weeds (Khan and Khan, 2003) while remaining 30% losses occur due to CLCuV (Farooq et al, 2011) and 25% by abiotic factors.…”

An insight into cotton genetic engineering (Gossypium hirsutum L.): current endeavors and prospects

“…Field tests of these transgenic plants showed good protection against cotton pink bollworm (Pectinophora zea) (Perlak et al 1990). Cotton cultivars transformed with insecticidal gene cry1Ab have been reported by various researchers using Agrobacterium-mediated transformation (Majeed et al 2000;Tohidfar et al 2008;Khan et al 2011Khan et al , 2013 (Table 1). These transgenic lines have shown significant resistance against targeted insect pests.…”

“…Many researchers have evaluated the resistant level of transgenic cotton lines against targeted insect pest by leaf biotoxicity and artificial field infestation assays ( Fig. 2) (Rashid et al 2008;Bakhsh et al 2009;Khan et al 2011Khan et al , 2013. Bakhsh (2010) reported the genetic transformation of cotton cultivar NIAB-846 transformed with insecticidal genes driven by green tissue-specific (RbcS) and 35S CaMV promoters.…”

Homologous promoter derived constitutive and chloroplast targeted expression of synthetic cry1Ac in transgenic chickpea confers resistance against Helicoverpa armigera

“…This facilitated its use as a biologically safe and reliable molecular device for genetic improvements of various crops like rice, cotton, maize, brinjal, sugarcane, soybean, potato etc. (Ye et al 2001; Kumar and Kumar 2004;Dutton et al 2005;Arvinth et al 2010;Khan et al 2013).…”