Corn borer still no match for Bt corn

The Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) corn has proven to be a tough nut to crack for the dreaded Asian corn borer (ACB), a major pest that ruins up to 80 percent of traditional corn varieties.
Dr. Edwin Alcantara of the National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Biotech) at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos (UPLB) said in a recent lecture that a study he and his team conducted in several sites confirmed the Bt corn’s resistance to ACB.
Alcantara said since the ACB could not penetrate Bt corn grains 10 years after the variety had been approved for commercialization, it was remote for the pest to suddenly develop resistance to the unique protein used in shielding the biotech corn from attack.
“ACB has simply not overcome the genetic armor of Bt corn,” he said.
In the study, Alcantara said the baseline susceptibility of several ACB populations to the protein Cry1ab was first estimated.
Cry1ab is the protein that battles ACB and prevents it from nibbling away at the corn.
Alcantara said the concentration is now being used to monitor the development of ACB resistance in eight corn-producing provinces. [PNA]