Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences researchers successfully
incorporated a Bt gene into cabbage plants to improve resistance to
destructive pest, diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). The results of
their study are published in Scientia Horticulturae.

The researchers used Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation to
develop transgenic cabbage plants with Bacillus thuringiensis cry1Ia8 gene.
The resulting transgenic plants were able to control both susceptible and
Cry1Ac-resistant diamondback moth larvae.Then they analyzed the expression
and inheritance of the Bt gene in four single-copy lineages and their
sexually derived progenies.

Results of the analyses showed that the transgene was successfully inserted
in the genome of cabbage and the inheritance of the gene in the progenies
followed the Mendelian segregation pattern. These results imply that the
transgenic lines exhibiting stable inheritance can be used as donor in
breeding programs for cabbage.

[www.sciencedirect.com]