Scientists Compare Susceptibility of Corn and Sugarcane Borers to Bt toxins

Scientist S. Y. Tan from the University of Nebraska (UNL), USA, and colleagues conducted a comparative study on the susceptibility of European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) and the closely related Asian corn borer,(Ostrinia furnacalis) to determine if the patterns of sensitivity to different Bt Cry1 toxins are similar between the two species. The insects included were O. furnacalis from Malaysia, O. nubilalis maintained in UNL, and an outgroup composed of the sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis from Louisiana, USA.

Based on the findings of the researchers, both Ostrinia species showed comparable pattern of susceptibility to all Cry1 toxins and were extremely susceptible to the toxins particularly to Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac and Cry1F. O. furnacalis and O. nubilalis were found to be more tolerant to Cry1Ba than D. saccharalis, but D. saccharalis was also susceptible to the other toxins tested. These findings indicate that the two Ostrinia species have similar sensitivity to the Cry1Aa, Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1Ba and Cry1F toxins, and may imply that these toxins have shared toxin receptors and mechanisms of toxicity for the two species.

Subscribers of Crop Protection journal can download a copy of the complete article at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261219411001736.