Journal
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 34, Issue 10, Pages 1046-1051Publisher
NATURE RESEARCH
DOI: 10.1038/nbt.3665
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Funding
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India under Supra Institutional Project [SIP05]
- Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India under Network Projects [NWP03, PlaGen BSC0107]
- CSIR
- Indian Council of Medical Research
- University Grant Commission
- Department of Science and Technology (DST) JC Bose National Fellowship
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Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) damages field crops by sucking sap and transmitting viral diseases. None of the insecticidal proteins used in genetically modified (GM) crop plants to date are effective against whitefly. We report the identification of a protein (Tma12) from an edible fern, Tectaria macrodonta (Fee) C. Chr., that is insecticidal to whitefly (median lethal concentration = 1.49 mu g/ml in in vitro feeding assays) and interferes with its life cycle at sublethal doses. Transgenic cotton lines that express Tmal2 at similar to 0.01% of total soluble leaf protein were resistant to whitefly infestation in contained field trials, with no detectable yield penalty. The transgenic cotton lines were also protected from whitefly-borne cotton leaf curl viral disease. Rats fed Tma12 showed no detectable histological or biochemical changes, and this, together with the predicted absence of allergenic domains in Tma12, indicates that Tma12 might be well suited for deployment in GM crops to control whitefly and the viruses it carries.
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