Award details

The evolution of resistance to Bt toxins: testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses in experimental microcosms

ReferenceD15960
Principal Investigator / Supervisor Professor Denis Wright
Co-Investigators /
Co-Supervisors
Institution Imperial College London
DepartmentBiological Sciences
Funding typeResearch
Value (£) 246,336
StatusCompleted
TypeResearch Grant
Start date 01/10/2001
End date 31/01/2005
Duration40 months

Abstract

The evolution of resistance to crops engineered with Bacillus thuringiensis toxins, and the effects of natural enemies thereon, has not been widely experimentally investigated. Selection experiments using Plutella xylostella will measure the effects of single and multiple toxins on the evolution of (1) Bt resistance and (2) correlated responses in resistance to natural enemies and novel Bt toxins. The effects of interactions between a pathogen (a granulosis virus) and Bt toxins on relative fitness of resistant and susceptible insects will be investigated, and also the effect of Bt-pathogen interactions on the rate of evolution of resistance in density controlled microcosms, and in microcosms with density dependent virus mortality.

Summary

unavailable
Committee Closed Committee - Agri-food (AF)
Research TopicsX – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research PriorityX – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative X - not in an Initiative
Funding SchemeX – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme
terms and conditions of use (opens in new window)
export PDF file