Bt cotton
• Some strains of Bacillus thuringiensis produce proteins that kill some insects like lepidopterans (tobacco budworm, armyworm), coleopterans (beetles) and dipterans (flies, mosquitoes).
• B. thuringiensis forms protein crystals which contain a toxic insecticidal protein.
• The toxin is coded by a gene called cry which is of various types. For example, proteins encoded by the genes cryIAc and cryIIAb control the cotton bollworms and that of cryIAb control corn borer.
