Herbicide and insect resistant elite transgenic rice

Transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L.) containing two agronomically useful genes was generated using Agrobacterium LBA4404 with an additional virulence plasmid, virG(pTiBo542)/virE1virE2(pTiA6). The plants were transformed with phosphinothricin acetyl transferase (pat) gene for herbicide resistance and Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crystal insecticidal protein gene for insect resistance. Three different sets of primary plants expressing (1) the pat and Bt genes, (2) the pat gene and a fragmented (nonfunctional) copy of the Bt gene, or (3) the pat gene only were produced. Stable integration, expression and transmission of the transferred genes in T0 and T1 generation plants were confirmed by both molecular analysis and phenotype expression. The herbicide application test of the progeny from the three sets of primary plants showed that the transferred pat gene was stably expressed in the T1 generation. The insect feeding bioassay with T1 generation plants conferring resistance to herbicide established that the transgenic plants having a complete Bt gene were toxic to tobacco budworm (Heliothis virescens) larvae. The insect feeding bioassay and herbicide application test results were clearly correlated with the molecular analysis.