1. THE CONFUSION ABOUT BT BRINJAL BY KUTUBUDDIN MOLLA CSIR JRF PLANT MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORY DEPARTMENT OF BOTANY UNIVERSITY OF CALCUTTA
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7. SO IN PRESENT SCENARIO FOR A SECOND GREEN REVOLUTION WE HAVE TO GO FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY & GENETIC ENGINEERING
12. Fruit borer Damage as identified by the consumer
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14. Speculation about Bt or Bt -Brinjal is like…… The unscientific comments about Bt-Brinjal often reminds us of the six blind men and the elephant who guessed the tail as rope, legs as pole, trunk as wall, ear as fan and the trunk as hose
15. WE SHOULD KNOW THE ACTUAL & TRUE FACT WHICH IS SCIENTIFIC…………….
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18. GLOBAL MARKET FOR BIOPESTICIDES, 2005-06 - $260M TMM Bt cotton 62% Other bacteria $32m Source: CPL Business Consultants, July 2006 Bt spray dominated with 62%. Used in all countries, including the European Union (16.5%), and by all farmers including organic farmers Bt $159m Virus $18m Fungus $37m Nematode $15m
23. Bt -Cotton Approved 26 March 2002: A Landmark in India India’s first transgenic crop
24. Bt Cotton Bt-cotton area & cotton production in India 620 Bt-cotton hybrids & 1 Bt variety have been released so far New Hybrids Bt Cotton area lakh ha
26. Insecticide usage in India IRM Bt Cotton Bollworm insecticides Rs 600 crores in 2002 Bollworm Insecticides Rs 260 crores in 2008
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29. Ingestion (occurs while feeding plant tissues) Solubilization (Alkalinity) Activation (pH >9.5) Binding (Specific receptor) Insertion (Damage gut wall) Pore formation Cell lyses D e a t h Selective action of Bt in insects
45. SMT . PRATIBHA DEBISINGH PATIL, THE PRESIDENT OF INDIA “ Efforts towards sustainable agriculture can be greatly augmented with the help of space technology and biotechnology advances”
The unscientific comments about Bt-cotton often reminds us of the six blind men and the elephant who guessed the tail as rope, legs as pole, trunk as wall, ear as fan and the trunk as hose
For Indian agricultural biotechnology, March 26, 2002 is significant because it was on that day that the GEAC under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Govt of India, gave approval for Mahyco’s Bt-cotton for commercial cultivation. This is the first-ever agri-biotech product to receive an official approval in India. Mahyco is Monsanto’s technology partner in India and their Bt-cotton carried Bt-gene licensed from Monsanto.
Bt protein needs certain specific conditions for its effective action. It has to be ingested by the target insect which happens when it is feeding. It needs alkaline condition in the intestine for its solubilization, pH of 9.5 or above for activation and specific receptors for binding before it can kill the target insect. All these conditions are available only in the susceptible insect. For example, the protein cannot act in the human or animal intestine because the intestine is acidic, pH is about 1.5 and there are no receptors. The specificity and mode of action of proteins need to be understood.
Mode of action of cry toxins: (a) after ingestion by the insect, crystals dissolve in the gut juice. (b) Gut proteases subsequently clip off the C-terminal extension in the longer cry proteins (purple) as well as small N-terminal fragment (yellow). (c) The resulting activated toxin binds to receptors on the epithelial cell membrane a process in which both domain II and domain III are involved. (d) structural rearrangement of domain I might follow allowing a two-helix hairpin to insert into the membrane. (e) Inserted toxins form pores probably as oligomers but the architecture of the pore is still unknown.
Whenever a new technology is introduced, there have always been concerns. Bt technology is no exception. But what needs to be understood is that these concerns are proactively considered and answered.
Studies made in China, USA and other countries including India have indicated that the populations of parasitic and predatory insects in Bt-cotton fields were more and they contributed to enhanced biological control of sucking pests. There are a few publications on the adverse effects of Bt protein on ladybird beetles and lacewings as well as on the monarch butterfly. But these studies were carried out under highly artificial conditions and are not accepted by the scientific community. (If the manufacturer of a wristwatch says that the watch is shock-proof or water-proof, it does not mean that we should hammer it prove that it is not shock-proof or keep under water overnight to show that it is not water-proof. Experiments should be realistic and logical).
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