Resistance gene may beat heliothis in sorghum

摘要

SCIENTISTS in the agriculture department of the University of Queensland are nearing the end of a three-year Grains Research and Development Corporation project looking at genetically engineering grain sorghum to improve insect resistance. Plant genetics lecturer, Ian Godwin, and research fellow, Carl Rathus, are using some of the world's leading technology in the battle against midge and heliothis. They have produced what is believed to be the world's third transgenic sorghum, implanting an experimental gene resistant to herbicide into a sorghum genotype, opening the way for eventual incorporation of genes resistant to midge and heliothis. Godwin says separate genes will be required to achieve the two resistances, with that against heliothis likely to be the first success.