BT Corn Carla Barrios Jim Taylor

BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS IS A SPECIES OF BACTERIA THAT PRODUCES (CRYSTAL-LIKE)PROTEINS THAT ARE TOXIC TO CERTAIN INSECTS.

BT History  Japanese biologist Shigetane Ishiwatar isolated the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in  In 1915, Ernest Berliner reported the existence of a crystal within Bt.  Farmers started to use Bt as a pesticide in 1920, but only killed flour moth.

 Bt as a pesticide had limitations such as it is washed away by rain and degraded by UV light.  In 1958 Bt was used commercially in United States and was registered as a pesticide to the EPA in  In 1977 thirteen Bt strains had been described and were toxic to certain species of lepidopteran larvae.

 In the 1980's use of Bt increased when insects became increasingly resistant to the synthetic insecticides.  Scientists and environmentalists became aware that the chemicals were harming the environment.  The first genetically engineered plant, corn, was registered with the EPA in 1995.

How BT works When a susceptible insect ingests plant material containing the Bt toxin, pores in a section of the midgut of the insect are formed. This then leads to paralysis of the gut and within two to three days, death of the insect.

Advantages  Bt does not kill beneficial insects such as honeybees.  Bt is essentially nontoxic to people, pets and wildlife.  Bt does not has negative impact on the environment.  Bt provides more than 99% control of first generation European corn borer larvae.

How it’s made DIY BT CORN

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Planning Gene: Bt a Promoters - 35S or PEP Carboxylase b. Coding Regions - Cry1A(b), Cry1A(c), or Crygc c. Expression - If 35S promoter; then ECB resistance in all tissues all the time. If PEP Carb_ promoter, then ECB resistance in actively photosynthesizing (green) tissues on y. Gene: Roundup resistance a Promoter - 35S b. Coding Region - EPSPS enzyme (Roundup resistance) + CTP region to send protein to chloroplasts c. Expression - Roundup resistance in all plant tissues all the time.

The Process

Isolating the gene

The Genes

Selecting restriction enzymes

The Vector

Buildin g the Plasmi d

Getting it into the maize cell

The Corn T0940A Hi-II Parent A (for producing embryogenic callus cultures) (also known by these names: Hi IIA, Hi-II Parent A, HiII A, HiIIA, High 2, High II, High-2, High- II, High2, HighII,T0940A, T940A Hi-II Parent A) Partially inbred line selected out of a cross between A188 and B73 Obtained from C. Armstrong. For producing embryogenic (Type II) callus cultures.

Excise the embryos by inserting the narrow end of a sharpened spatula between the endosperm and pericarp

Growing it out

Summary Impact Building

Impact  Bacillus thuringiensis is a species of bacteria that produces (crystal-like)proteins that are toxic to certain insects.  Japanese biologist Shigetane Ishiwatar isolated the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) in  The first genetically engineered plant, corn, was registered with the EPA in  Bt provides more than 99% control of first generation European corn borer larvae

Overvie w

Partial list of references. The full list is available upon request. 1.National Center for Biotechnology Information SnapGene tutorial videos New England Biolabs - maps-toolhttps:// maps-tool 4.MaizeGDB!