Can A Bacteria’s DNA Protect Plants From Insects?
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Loading... - albert charlotte
- 10 Feb 2023
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In nature, all plants must stand off against hungry insects. Some insects chew off the leaf and stem parts, others feed on sap, and some insect pests simply spread diseases to the plants.
In your home garden, pests such as aphids and mealybugs ruin months of care, and on acres of agricultural land, the losses through insect pest activity is tremendous. Insects like desert locusts can disrupt the food security of millions.
To keep insects in check, we’ve used an arsenal of insecticides, but we also know they harm life more than it aids us. Now, what if we could breed plants that protect themselves from insects?
What Is Transgenics?
Transgenics is an aspect of biotechnology that allows gene transfer between phylogenetically distant organisms. In general breeding, scientists cross plants to transfer traits within species, but in some cases, genes of interest are unavailable within the same species. That’s when transgenics come to the rescue. One can search for a desirable trait in distant genera and then transfer it to another organism.
Bacterial Genes To Protect Plants
As we know, leaves are the core part of a plant’s food production and insects feed primarily on these leaf parts. This reduced leaf area drops the level of photosynthesis, thus impacting the yield of the desired crop.
Insects are also vectors of many viruses, causing plant epidemics. On average, we lose about 40% of crop yield to pest infestation, and according to a 2018 study insects consume 5 to 20% of all grains. With global temperatures rising ever higher, this number is bound to worsen.
The use of insecticides only further leads to insects becoming resistant to these chemicals.
Coming to general breeding techniques, it takes a long time to find desirable genes from related plant species. Even if found, it takes years to incorporate them. By then, the insects evolve into other resistant forms.
These difficulties bring us to transgenics. Various bacteria infect insects, but not plants. We can access the required genes from such bacteria with ease. Besides, we can also fix them in susceptible plants in less time with genetic engineering. Read More…
