BT BRINJAL

BT BRINJAL

TOPIC: Science & Tech

Context- On Thursday, the pro-GM crop movement will be re-launched in Maharashtra once again.

• Since 2019, thousands of farmers have been openly sowing and cultivating herbicide-tolerant Bt (HTBt) cotton and Bt brinjal.

Concept-

• To date, the Centre has approved only GM cotton for commercial cultivation in India.
• Under Section 22 of the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, GM foods are not allowed to be manufactured, imported or sold in India unless approved under the Act.
• Legally, sale, storage, transportation and usage of unapproved GM seeds is a punishable offence under the Rules of Environmental Protection Act 1989.
• Also, sale of unapproved seeds can attract action under the Seed Act of 1966 and the Cotton Act of 1957.

Bt Brinjal:

• Bt brinjal was developed by Mahyco (Maharashtra Hybrid Seeds Company) in collaboration with the Dharwad University of Agricultural Sciences and the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
• Bt Brinjal is a transgenic brinjal created by inserting a gene cry1Ac from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into Brinjal.
• This genetically modified brinjal gives resistance against insects such as the Brinjal Fruit and Shoot Borer (Leucinodes orbonalis)

Bt Cotton:

• Developed by US giant Bayer-Monsanto, it involves insertion of two genes viz‘Cry1Ab’ and ‘Cry2Bc’ from the soil bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis into cotton seeds.
• This modification codes the plant to produce protein toxic to Heliothis bollworm (pink bollworm) thus making it resistant to their attack.

Herbicide Tolerant Bt (HTBt) Cotton:

• The HTBt cotton variant adds another layer of modification to Bt Cotton, making the plant resistant to the herbicide glyphosate.
• HtBt Cotton involves the addition of another gene, ‘Cp4-Epsps’ from another soil bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens to make it herbicide resistant.