Chimeric Bt Polypeptides for Broader Crop Insect Resistance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing genetically engineered crops provide resistance to only a narrow range of economically important insect pests, and there is a need for new technologies that can effectively address this spectrum of insect pests, particularly for enhancing the efficacy of the existing methods for controlling insect pests, particularly for Lepidoptera and/or Coleoptera.
Innovation Solution
The development of recombinant nucleic acids that encode pesticidal polypeptides, including variants and chimeric Cry1B polypeptides, optimized for enhanced activity against insect pests, and their use in transforming plants to produce transgenic crops with improved insect resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If genetically engineered crops produce pesticidal proteins from Bacillus, then insect resistance is provided, but the resistance spectrum remains narrow
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple pesticidal protein sequences from different Bacillus strains (B. thuringiensis, B. papilliae, B. lentimorbus, B. sphaericus, B. cereus) into chimeric proteins. This merging of sequences from different sources creates a single protein that can target multiple insect orders (Lepidoptera, Diptera, Coleoptera, Hemiptera) simultaneously, thereby expanding the resistance spectrum while maintaining reliable efficacy through the coordinated action of multiple toxin domains
Solution Approach 2:
The chimeric pesticidal proteins are designed to perform multiple functions by incorporating active regions from different parental toxins. Each chimera can bind to and disrupt multiple types of insect gut receptors across different insect orders, making a single protein universally effective against diverse pest populations rather than being specialized for one target group
2Adaptability or versatility
If broad-spectrum chemical insecticides are used, then a wide range of insect pests are controlled, but environmental hazards increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces chemical insecticide applications with genetically engineered plants that produce pesticidal proteins endogenously. This substitution eliminates the need for external chemical applications while maintaining broad-spectrum pest control through the combined activity of multiple toxin domains from different Bacillus species, thereby reducing environmental hazards associated with synthetic pesticides
Solution Approach 2:
The transgenic plants autonomously produce and secrete the chimeric pesticidal proteins through their own cellular machinery. The plants self-service their pest defense needs by continuously expressing the multi-functional toxin genes, eliminating dependence on external chemical insecticide applications and reducing the environmental burden of pesticide runoff and persistence
Data Source
AI summary
The disclosure provides nucleic acids, and variants and fragments thereof, derived from strains of Bacillus thuringiensis encoding variant polypeptides having increased pesticidal activity against insect pests, including Lepidoptera and Coleopteran. Particular embodiments of the disclosure provide isolated nucleic acids encoding pesticidal proteins, pesticidal compositions, DNA constructs, and transformed microorganisms and plants comprising a nucleic acid of the embodiments. These compositions find use in methods for controlling pests, especially plant pests.