Engineered chimeric insecticidal crystalline protein improves resistance to lepidopteran insects in rice (Oryza sativa L.) and maize (Zea mays L.).

ABSTRACT: The insecticidal crystalline proteins (Crys) are a family of insect endotoxin functioning in crop protection. As insects keep evolving into tolerance to the existing Crys, it is necessary to discover new Cry proteins to overcome potential threatens. Crys possess three functional domains at their N-termini, and the most active region throughout evolution was found at the domain-III. We swapped domain-IIIs from various Cry proteins and generated seven chimeric proteins. All recombinants were expressed in Escherichia coli and their toxicity was assessed by dietary exposure assays. Three of the seven Crys exhibited a high toxicity to Asian corn borer over the controls. One of them, Cry1Ab-Gc, a chimeric Cry1Ab being replaced with the domain-III of Cry1Gc, showed the highest toxicity to rice st

SUBMITTER: Liu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9307649 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature