State Key Laboratory of Rice Biology, Institute of Insect Sciences, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
College of Life Science, Shanxi Agricultural University, Taigu, China.
Sci Rep. 2018 Oct 25;8(1):15788. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-34104-4.
Management of resistance development of insect pests is of great importance for continued utilization of Bt crop. The high-dose/refuge and pyramid (gene stacking) strategy are commonly employed to delay the evolution of insect resistance. Due to the anticipated difficulty for deployment of mandatory refuge for transgenic crops in China, where the size of farmer is quite small, stacking of genes with different modes of action is a more feasible strategy. Here we report the development of transgenic rice expressing a fusion protein of Cry1Ab and Vip3A toxin. Analysis of trypsin proteolysis suggested that the fusion protein is equivalent to the combination of Cry1Ab and Vip3A protein. The transgenic plants expressing the fusion protein were found to be highly resistant to two major rice pests, Asiatic rice borer Chilo suppressalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) and rice leaf folder Cnaphalocrocis medinalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), while their agronomic performances showed no significant difference compared to the non-transgenic recipient rice. Therefore, the transgenic rice may be utilized for rice pest control in China.
害虫抗药性的管理对于Bt 作物的持续利用非常重要。高剂量/避难所和基因叠加（基因堆叠）策略通常用于延缓昆虫抗药性的进化。由于在中国部署转基因作物强制性避难所预计会有困难，而中国农民的规模相当小，因此采用具有不同作用模式的基因叠加策略更为可行。在这里，我们报告了表达 Cry1Ab 和 Vip3A 毒素融合蛋白的转基因水稻的开发。胰蛋白酶分析表明，该融合蛋白相当于 Cry1Ab 和 Vip3A 蛋白的组合。表达融合蛋白的转基因植物对两种主要的水稻害虫，亚洲水稻螟虫（鳞翅目：螟蛾科）和稻纵卷叶螟（鳞翅目：卷叶蛾科）表现出高度抗性，而其农艺性能与非转基因受体水稻相比没有显著差异。因此，这种转基因水稻可能在中国用于水稻害虫的防治。
