RESISTANCE TO TUBER MOTH FOLLOWING THE TRANSFER TO POTATO OF A CRY9AA2 GENE UNDER THE CONTROL OF CONSTITUTIVE AND LIGHT-INDUCIBLE PROMOTERS

Potato tuber moth (PTM) is a major insect pest of potato crops that is difficult to control with cultural methods or insecticide applications.
To contribute an additional component to integrated pest management to help overcome this problem, we have investigated the development of transgenic potatoes with PTM resistance.
A modified cry9Aa2 gene under the transcriptional control of either a 35S constitutive promoter or a Lhca3 light-inducible promoter was transferred to potato cultivar Iwa.
The transgenic status of a population of independently derived potato plants for each chimeric cry gene was confirmed by PCR analysis.
Replicated plants were transferred to a containment greenhouse for evaluation of phenotypic appearance and bioassays against PTM larvae.
The modified cry9Aa2 gene conferred improved resistance to PTM in most transgenic lines under both the 35S constitutive promoter and the Lhca3 light-inducible promoter.

I International Symposium on Root and Tuber Crops: Food Down Under

S. Meiyalaghan, M.F.G. Takla, P.J. Barrell, R.M. Keijzer, J.M.E. Jacobs, A.J. Conner

Agrobacterium transformation; insect resistance; cry genes; Lhca3 promoter, 35S promoter, transgenic plants

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2005.670.7