EVALUATION OF Bt TRANSGENIC BRINJAL (Solanum melongena L.) AND Bt TRANSGENIC TOMATO (Solanum lycopersicum) FOR RESISTANCE TO THE FRUIT BORERS.

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Date
2009-07-15
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University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore
Abstract
Brinjal and tomatoes are important, popular, solanceous vegetable crops in the Indian subcontinent. Brinjal fruit and shoot borer (Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee) and tomato fruit borer (Helicoverpa armigera Hubner) are the major pests for brinjal and tomato crop plants respectively. There is no source of resistance in these crop plants. Bt transgenic technology offers a sustainable and successful method of managing these pests. Synthetic Bt genes, cry1Aa3 and cry2Aa were used to transform into brinjal (cv. Arka Keshav) and tomato (cv. Arka Vikas). Evaluation of Bt transgenic brinjal and tomato plants was carried out using molecular and insect feeding analysis. NptII specific primer was used in the PCR based characterization of the transgenic plants using total genomic DNA. Qualitative dot-ELISA was used to study expression of Cry1Aa3 and Cry2Aa Bt proteins in the transgenic plants using Bt Xpresstrips® (Desigen, Mahyco, Jalna). In vitro and transgenic nethouse rearing of Leucinodes orbonalis and Helicoverpa armigera was done to maintain and multiply the insect inoculum for the purpose of challenging on to the transgenic plants for phenotyping. A new detached leaf bioassay method was used to challenge the transgenic and control plants using neonate larval stages of Leucinodes orbonalis and Helicoverpa armigera. Transgenic plants expressing Bt proteins and showing different degrees of resistance to the pests were identified, evaluated and used for selfing to get segregating lines
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