Background: Helicoverpa armigera is a highly polyphagous species that causes huge losses to agricultural and horticultural crops worldwide. In the cotton industry, H. armigera, including the Australian subspecies Helicoverpa armigera conferta, is largely managed using genetically modified crops that express insecticidal toxins, such as Cry1Ac.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStress is a widespread phenomenon that all organisms must endure. Common in nature is oxidative stress, which can interrupt cell homeostasis to cause cell damage and may be derived from respiration or from environmental exposure through diet. As a result of the routine exposure from respiration, many organisms can mitigate the effects of oxidative stress, but less is known about responses to oxidative stress from other sources.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA modified Vip3C protein has been developed that has a spectrum of activity that has the potential to be commercially useful for pest control, and shows good efficacy against Spodoptera frugiperda in insect bioassays and field trials. For the first time Vip3A and Vip3C proteins have been compared to Cry1 and Cry2 proteins in a complete set of experiments from insect bioassays to competition binding assays to field trials, and the results of these complementary experiments are in agreement with each other. Binding assays with radiolabelled toxins and brush border membrane vesicles from S.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBacillus thuringiensis Vip3 proteins are synthesized and secreted during the vegetative growth phase. They are activated by gut proteases, recognize and bind to midgut receptors, form pores and lyse cells. We tested the susceptibility to Vip3Aa and Vip3Ca of Cry1A-, Cry2A-, Dipel- and Vip3-resistant insect colonies from different species to determine whether resistance to other insecticidal proteins confers cross-resistance to Vip3 proteins.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTransgenic cotton expressing insecticidal proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) has been grown in Australia for over 20 years and resistance remains the biggest threat. The native moth, Helicoverpa punctigera is a significant pest of cotton. A genotype causing resistance to Cry1Ac in H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCrops expressing genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt crops) are among the most successful technologies developed for the control of pests but the evolution of resistance to them remains a challenge. Insect resistant cotton and maize expressing the Bt Vip3Aa protein were recently commercialized, though not yet in Australia. We found that, although relatively high, the frequency of alleles for resistance to Vip3Aa in field populations of H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCrops engineered to produce insecticidal crystal (Cry) proteins from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have revolutionised pest control in agriculture. However field-level resistance to Bt has developed in some targets. Utilising novel vegetative insecticidal proteins (Vips), also derived from Bt but genetically distinct from Cry toxins, is a possible solution that biotechnical companies intend to employ.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis paper describes a screening strategy incorporating resistant insect lines for discovery of new Bacillus thuringiensis toxins against a background of known genes that would normally mask the activity of additional genes and the application of that strategy. A line of Helicoverpa armigera with resistance to Cry1Ac (line ISOC) was used to screen Cry1Ac-expressing strains of B. thuringiensis for additional toxins with activity against H.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF