Expression of Cry Genes in Plants -

The cry genes have been successfully transferred into tobacco, potato and tomato. Typically, truncated cry genes are used for the production of transgenic plants since the level of expression of the complete genes in the transgenic plants is extremely low. In 1987, the first report on the response of transgenic tobacco plants to the insect.

Manduca sexta and Heliothis virescens was published. The transgenic tobacco plants expressing Cry protein at about 0.004% of their total leaf protein killed all M. sexta larvae within 6 days. Similarly, fruits of transgenic tomatoes grown in the field showed less fruit damage even under heavy infestation by fruitworm and pinworm larvae.

Field tests have been quite successful with transgenic cotton as well; this crop requires about 60% of the total insecticides used in agriculture for a successful cultivation.