Inheritance of Transgenes in Transgenic Bt Lines Resistance to Helicoerpa armigera in Upland Cotton

Six transgenic Bt cotton cultivars (lines) including GKsu12, GK19, MR1, GK5, 109B, and SGK1 are highly resistant to bollworm from the seedling to boll-setting stages in bioassays with detached cotton leaves, though there are differences in resistant level and Bt toxin content in these transgenic cottons. Genetics analysis reveals that the resistance to Helicoverpa armigera in these six transgenic Bt cotton cultivars (lines) are controlled by one pair of dominant genes. Allelic tests further demonstrate some populations are in Mendel segregation for two nonallelic genes, i.e., the inserted Bt gene in GKsu12 is nonallelic to that of SGK1, GK5, 109B, and GK19 and Bt genes in GK19 and SGK1 are likely inserted in the same or in close proximity (genetically closely linked), while some F₂ produce abnormal segregation patterns, with a segregation of resistance to Helicoerpa armigera vary between 15:1 and 3:1, though their Bt segregation fit into 15:1 by PCR analysis, suggesting Bt gene silence in these populations. Two genes silence may occur in these populations due to the homologous sequence by crossing since the silenced individuals accounted for 1/16 of the F₂ populations for allelic test. To those silenced populations, one of their parents all showed high resistance to bollworm.