Commonly Used Genes in Transgenic Plants

Genetic modification is the process of transferring genes for known functional traits such as disease and pest resistance, stress resistance, and high yield into target organisms through modern scientific and technological means, so that the recipient organisms acquire new functional characteristics and produce new varieties and new products. Genetically modified crops usually have excellent traits such as high yield and high quality, disease and pest resistance, stress resistance, herbicide resistance, storage resistance, increased content of certain nutrients, improved crop quality, enhanced taste and color, etc.

In 2022, the global GM crop planting area totaled 202.2 million hm², accounting for about 12% of the world's total cultivated land, an increase of 3.3% from last year (196 million hm²), setting a new record since the large-scale commercial planting of GM crops. As of 2022, the global cumulative planting area exceeded 2.667 billion hm², an increase of 112 times, bringing significant benefits to global growers and consumers.

Insect-resistant genes

Insect-resistant genes mainly include toxic protein genes, protease inhibitor genes, plant lectin genes, amylase inhibitor genes, etc. Bacillus thuringiensis is a Gram-positive pathogenic bacterium that, when spore-forming, produces a protein (Bt) that kills insect larvae. Bt is widely distributed in nature and is currently the most widely used and effective low-toxic insecticidal protein of microbial origin in the world. It is used to control a variety of pests in the Diptera, Coleoptera, Orthoptera, and especially Lepidoptera. B. thuringiensis insecticides have the advantages of high efficiency, strong specificity, and safety to the environment, humans and animals. Currently, commercial preparations of B. thuringiensis have been widely used in pest control in agriculture, forestry and storage. At present, as the earliest discovered insect-resistant gene, transgenic Bt insect-resistant cotton, soybeans and corn have been widely used.

Herbicide-resistant genes

Glyphosate is a herbicide that can effectively kill annual weeds and perennial weeds that reproduce by their root systems. So far, it has become the most widely used and fastest growing pesticide variety in the world. Since it has no selectivity for crops and weeds, the development of glyphosate-resistant transgenic crops can effectively solve the problem of precise control of weeds in farmland. At present, the commonly used glyphosate-resistant gene is the 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) gene. EPSPS plays a role in synthesizing aromatic amino acids in plant chloroplasts. Its function is competitively inhibited by glyphosate, resulting in the obstruction of protein synthesis, thereby inhibiting plant growth.

With the continuous deepening of research on herbicide-resistant genes, these genes have been successfully expressed in a variety of crops, mainly corn, soybeans, rice, cotton, rapeseed, tobacco, alfalfa, flax, etc., some of which have been promoted for planting. Taking soybeans as an example, at present, the world's commercialized glyphosate-resistant soybeans are glyphosate-resistant transgenic soybeans GTS40-3-2 developed by Monsanto Company in the United States. This soybean variety uses the glyphosate-resistant gene CP4-EPSP or the glyphosate-N-acetyltransferase (GAT) gene.

Insecticidal Proteins We Offer

Related Services & Products

• Plant Genetic Engineering
• Plant Breeding
• Plant Genetic Transformation
• Insecticidal Proteins
• Recombinant Agrobacterium Cp4 EPSPS Protein
• Plant Insect Resistance Identification
• Analysis of Insecticide Bioactivity
• Genetic Engineering of Insecticidal Proteins
• Development of Biopesticides