Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) microbial pesticides have a 50-year history of safety in agriculture. Cry proteins are among the active insecticidal ingredients in these pesticides, and genes coding for Cry proteins have been introduced into agricultural crops using modern biotechnology. The Cry gene sequences are often modified to enable effective expression in planta and several Cry proteins have...

The main objective of the present study was to investigate arsenate [As (V)] resistance genes in rice cultivars grown in arsenic contaminated Egyptian soil in order to genetically induce resistance against arsenic in the local rice varieties as well as defining contaminated rice grains and/or soil. Three local rice cultivars; Sakha 102-104 were cultivated on modified Murashige and Skoog Basal M...

Maize line 1507, containing event DAS-Ø15Ø7-1 (1507), is a genetically modified (GM) maize plant that expresses the cry1F gene from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) sbsp. aizawai and the phosphinothricin-N-acetyltransferase (pat) gene from Streptomyces viridochromogenes throughout the plant including in the grain expression of the Cry1F protein confers in planta resistance to the European corn borer...

In October 2006 the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, namely the Community Reference Laboratory for GM Food and Feed (CRL-GMFF), received samples possibly containing Bt rice as tested by GeneScan with a “Bt 63” construct-specific method. The CRL-GMFF, as a result of the analyses conducted, suggested to the European Network of GMO Laboratories (ENGL) and to the EU enforcement lab...

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) was first described by Berliner [10] when he isolated a Bacillus species from the Mediterranean flour moth, Anagasta kuehniella, and named it after the province Thuringia in Germany where the infected moth was found. Although this was the first description under the name B. thuringiensis, it was not the first isolation. In 1901, a Japanese biologist, Ishiwata Shigeta...

Bt rice can control yield losses caused by lepidopteran pests but may also harm nontarget species and reduce important ecosystem services. A comprehensive data set on herbivores, natural enemies, and their interactions in Chinese rice fields was compiled. This together with an analysis of the Cry protein content in arthropods collected from Bt rice in China indicated which nontarget species are...

Monocropped rice system is an important intensive cropping system for food security in China. Green manure (GM) as an alternative to fertilizer N (FN) is useful for improving soil quality. However, few studies have examined the effect of Chinese milk vetch (CMV) as GM on nitrous oxide (N2O) emission from monocropped rice field in south China. Therefore, a pot-culture experiment with four treatm...

The bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) produces delta-endotoxins that possess toxic properties and can be used as biopesticides, as well as a source of genes for the construction of transgenic plants resistant to insects. In Brazil, the introduction of Bt soybean with insecticidal properties to the velvetbean caterpillar, the main insect pest of soybean, has been seen a promising tool in the...

Gene flow from transgenic crops allows novel traits to spread to sexually compatible weeds. Traits such as resistance to insects may enhance the fitness of weeds, but few studies have tested for these effects under natural field conditions. We created F 2 and F 3 crop-weed hybrid lineages of genetically engineered rice (Oryza sativa) using lines with two transgene constructs, cowpea trypsin inh...

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is a rod-shaped, Gram-positive soil bacterium that belongs to the phylum Firmicutes and genus Bacillus. It spore-forming bacterium. During sporulation, it produces wide range of crystalline proteins are toxic different orders insects. Sporulation, structure assembly, germination essential stages in cell cycle B. thuringiensis. The majority studies on these issues hav...