Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 26 June 1998:
Vol. 280. no. 5372, p. 2050
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5372.2050
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Research News

MICROBIOLOGY:
Possible New Weapon for Insect Control

Evelyn Strauss

Scientists have identified a promising new group of toxins that might eventually be used instead of or in combination with those from their old standby, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). On page 2129, an insect toxicologist and his team report the discovery of proteins that the bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens uses to kill a wide variety of insects, including common pests, and demonstrate that the toxins work when eaten by an insect pest--a prerequisite for use in genetically altered plants. Combining the new toxins with Bt could ease the problem of insects becoming resistant to Bt toxins, in part because an insect is very unlikely to become resistant simultaneously to two toxins that kill by different mechanisms.

Evelyn Strauss is a free-lance writer in San Francisco.

Read the Full Text

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)