Introgression of Bt genes into the commercial cotton lines

Cotton bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) is one of the most serious insect pests of cotton. As every organism has a pathogen surviving on it, Bacillus thuringenesis, a bacterium has been identified to cause bacterial diseases in insects. This bacterium produces a protein (cry toxins) which paralyzes the digestive system of the insect, making it incapable to digest the ingested food, ultimately leading the insect to starvation. If these proteins are injected into the cotton plants, the problem due to bollworms can be overcome. For this, the gene responsible for producing the cry protein is genetically engineered into the cotton plants. Such plants called the transgenic varieties are capable of expressing resistance to the insects. To check if the plants are resistant against the insects, it is necessary to observe them grow in the field, which consumes a lot of time and labor, hence creating economical problems. To skip this tedious process, molecular markers have been produced, which recognize the presence of the transgene in the plant, in its early stages. This even reduces the time span for producing desired plants when compared to the traditional methods. These transgenic plants are further subjected to breeding techniques to produce stable transgenic cotton plants with various desired characters. Bt cotton has been widely planted around the world, and this has resulted in efficient control of bollworm population With reduced use of synthetic insecticides.