S21: Advances in insect-protected crops: expanding insect protection and ensuring trait durability

Transgenic crops protected from lepidopteran- and coleopteran- insect feeding damage express insecticidal proteins derived from the entomopathogenic bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). Insect-protected corn and cotton have become an integral part of insect pest management with over 60M hectares planted worldwide in 2011. This widespread adoption of insect-protected crops has resulted in increased yield, reduced frequency of insecticide applications, and even area-wide suppression of the same primary insect pest in other crops. Future challenges include expanding insect protection to include secondary- or emerging- pests, including hemipterans, and managing insect resistance development. This talk will highlight recent advances in the field of insect-protected crops, including the use of RNA interference to control corn rootworm and the engineering of Bt crystal proteins to enable the control of Lygus bugs, a hemipteran pest, in cotton.