Roundup Ready™ Bollgard II™ cotton

Insect resistant and herbicide tolerant cotton with stacked events derived by crossing MON-15985-7 and MON-Ø1445-2, including the cry1Ac gene and the cry2Ab gene from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki conferring resistance to lepidopteran pests, and the epsps gene encoding 5-enolpyruvylshikimaete-3-phosphate synthase that conferred tolerance to the herbicide glyphosate.

PV-GHGT07, PV-GHBK11 and PV-GHBK04

DNA insert from MON-15985-7 vectors PV-GHBK11 and PV-GHBK04

Event 15985 (tradename Bollgard II®) was derived from the retransformation of transgenic cotton line MON 531. As a result of these two transformation events, MON15985 contains the cry1Ac gene and the cry2Ab conferring resistance to lepidopteran pests as well as copies of the nptII and uidA and aadA genes.

DNA insert from MON-Ø1445-2 vector PV-GHGT07

The MON1445 parental organism contains coding sequences and regulatory elements for epsps and nptII. The aadA gene was also integrated into the host genome, however it is only expressed in bacterial cells. The PV-GHGT07 vector also contained a coding sequence for the Glyphosate oxidoreductase (GOX) gene however southern blot analysis indicated that that it was not integrated into the host genome.

For additional information on this LMO, please refer to the records of the parental LMOs.

Insect resistant and herbicide tolerant cotton with stacked events derived by crossing MON-15985-7 and MON-Ø1445-2.  Insect-resistance was derived from parent 15985 (tradename Bollgard II®) which contained the cry1Ac and cry2Ab genes originally isolated from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. kurstaki. As a result, event 15985 expresses both the Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab insecticidal proteins. This protects cotton from feeding by a range of Lepidopteran species including tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens), pink bollworm (Pectinophora gossypiella), cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa zea), cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni), saltmarsh caterpillar (Estigmene acrea), cotton leaf perforator (Bucculatrix thurbeiella), soybean looper (Pseudoplusia includens), beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua), fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), yellowstriped armyworm (Spodoptera ornithogolli) and European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis).

As with other B. thuringiensis-derived delta-endotoxins, the Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab proteins exert their insecticidal activity by binding to specific receptors located on the brush border midgut epithelium of susceptible insect species. Following binding, cation-specific pores are formed that disrupt midgut ionic equilibrium leading to gut paralysis and eventual death due to bacterial sepsis. Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab are highly selective and are only active against Lepidopteran insects. These proteins do, however, interact with different receptor sites in the target insects and it is expected that "stacking" these traits will result in increased protection against insect attack and a delay in the development of resistant insect populations.

Herbicide tolerance was derived from parental line 1445 which was transformed to express resistance to glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide Roundup®, allowing for its use as a weed control option. In order to obtain field tolerance to glyphosate herbicide, a bacterial gene encoding a glyphosate-tolerant form of the enzyme 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) was introduced into the cotton genome.