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Transgenic plants protected from insect attack

Abstract

The Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produces proteins which are specifically toxic to a variety of insect species. Modified genes have been derived from bt2, a toxin gene cloned from one Bacillus strain. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing these genes synthesize insecticidal proteins which protect them from feeding damage by larvae of the tobacco hornworm.

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Vaeck, M., Reynaerts, A., Höfte, H. et al. Transgenic plants protected from insect attack. Nature 328, 33–37 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1038/328033a0

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