Scientists Engineer Cowpea to Produce Bt Protein Against Maruca Pod Borer
November 2, 2017| |
In a report in Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC), scientists have engineered cowpea -- one of the most important sources of vegetable protein for rural families in Sub-Saharan Africa -- to produce a Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) protein, which protects against the Maruca pod borer that plagues the crop. Bt has been used as an organic pesticide for several decades, but it is often unavailable or too expensive for smallholder farmers.
Bt cowpea could yield as much as 25 percent more than other cowpea varieties, said TJ Higgins, a research scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) who led this work.Bt cowpea could be released next year to farmers in Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Ghana at no cost.
For more details, the open access article is available at PCTOC.
| |
Biotech Updates is a weekly newsletter of ISAAA, a not-for-profit organization. It is distributed for free to over 22,000 subscribers worldwide to inform them about the key developments in biosciences, especially in biotechnology. Your support will help us in our mission to feed the world with knowledge. You can help by donating as little as $10.
-
See more articles:
-
News from Around the World
- Kenyan Stakeholders Prepare for Commercialization of Bt Cotton
- Pumpkin Genome Sequence Now Available
- USDA APHIS Announces Availability of Petition for Deregulation of GE Cotton
- Scientists Engineer Cowpea to Produce Bt Protein Against Maruca Pod Borer
- Pampanga Stakeholders Get Updates on Biotech and Biosafety Regulations in PH
- Scientists from China Develop Rice that Can Grow in Seawater
- Scientists Develop Late Blight Resistant Potato
-
Research Highlights
- AtFC1 Overexpression Confers Plant Tolerance to Cadmium Toxicity
- Potassium Transporter OsHAK1 Regulates Responses to Drought Stress in Rice
-
Beyond Crop Biotech
- Drought Resistant Jojoba to Help Grow New Forests
- Water Buffalo Genome Sequenced
- The Roles of B-BOX Genes in Pears
-
From the BICs
- Agri Info Officers Trained on Agri Storytelling on Social Media
-
Plant
- Generation of Parthenocarpic Tomato Plants using CRISPR-Cas9
- Smallholder Farmers to Gain from Gene Editing Technology
-
Read the latest: - Biotech Updates (April 17, 2024)
- Gene Editing Supplement (April 10, 2024)
- Gene Drive Supplement (February 22, 2023)
-
Subscribe to BU: - Share
- Tweet