IIT-Kharaghpur develops 2nd generation GM technology for crops to keep away lepidopteran insects

IIT-Kharagphur's GM crop technology is an improved version over the existing Bt cotton technology. The existing (first generation) technology offers protection only against cotton bollworm. IIT-K has technology that would protect crops from lepidopteran insects, which means large, winged insects such as moths. 

“The new technology makes use of novel insecticidal toxins beyond the range of patent restriction and also fulfills all requirements of biosafety issues,” says IIT-K. 

The following are the advantages of the technology: 

• Toxic to target insects 
• Free from patent restriction 
• Use of novel insecticidal peptides 
• The technology is sounder than any of the similar approaches in cotton available in the market. 
• The technology can be made applicable to wide range of crop species and not restricted to cotton alone. 
• The toxin peptides used are insecticidal to lepidopteran insects only and are known to be non toxic to others. 
• Plant expression and protection against insects in transgenic plants have been tested. 
• The strategy for protection of crop plants against insects can withstand global competition.