Análise molecular e de expressão em plantas de algodão contendo o gene cry1la que confere resistência a insetos

Abstract

The pests are big economic problems in the management of major crops. This is because, depending on the occurrence, the losses are considerable, incurring even the loss of the crop. The effective control is through chemical insecticides that raises between 20% and 40% production costs and causing several damages to man and environment. Due to the great difficulty of getting crops with effective resistance to insects by means of conventional techniques several research institutions have invested in the acquisition of resistance via transgenesis, to be safe, effective and economical. In 2007, the Biotechnology team of the Cotton Embrapa edited and inserted the Bt cry1Ia gene in cotton cultivar BRS 293 in order to make it resistant to some insects in particular the caterpillar Spodoptera frugiperda. In this work was performed a comprehensive molecular study and expression analysis in T0 cotton plants, resulting of the transformation work the BRS 293 in order to verify the integration and expression of the protein-coding in selected transgenes through toxicity bioassays against Spodoptera frugiperda and by ELISA and western blot. Among the events analyzed, only five named BRS 293 T0-34, BRS 293 T0-49, BRS 293 T0-56, BRS 293 T0-57 and BRS T0-66, showed mortality rate above 50%, highlighting BRS 293 T0-34 with 89%. This same event had the highest protein concentration, with values similar to the Bollgard I in three growth stage analyzed by ELISA.