Compositions and methods for control of insect infestations in plants

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10787680-B2
Application number	US-201916716281-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 16, 2019
Priority date	Apr 9, 2004
Publication date	Sep 29, 2020
Grant date	Sep 29, 2020

Abstract

The present invention is directed to controlling pest infestation by inhibiting one or more biological functions in an invertebrate pest. The invention discloses methods and compositions for use in controlling pest infestation by feeding one or more different recombinant double stranded RNA molecules to the pest in order to achieve a reduction in pest infestation through suppression of gene expression. The invention is also directed to methods for making transgenic plants that express the double stranded RNA molecules, and to particular combinations of transgenic pesticidal agents for use in protecting plants from pest infestation.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A transgenic corn plant comprising:
a) a transgene encoding a dsRNA for suppression of an essential gene in a target pest; and
b) a transgene encoding a bacterial insecticidal protein exhibiting biological activity against said target pest;
wherein said target pest is a Western Corn Rootworm.

2. The transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein said essential gene is a target gene encoding a protein, the predicted function of which is selected from the group of functions consisting of muscle formation, juvenile hormone formation, juvenile hormone regulation, ion regulation and transport, digestive enzyme synthesis, maintenance of cell membrane potential, amino acid biosynthesis, amino acid degradation, sperm formation, pheromone synthesis, pheromone sensing, antennae formation, wing formation, leg formation, development and differentiation, egg formation, larval maturation, digestive enzyme formation, haemolymph synthesis, haemolymph maintenance, neurotransmission, cell division, energy metabolism, respiration, and apoptosis.

3. The transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein said transgenic corn plant is provided in the diet of said target pest in a pest inhibitory amount.

4. The transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein said plant comprises increased resistance to said target pest when compared to a plant lacking said transgenes.

5. The transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein said plant comprises increased yield when compared to a plant lacking said transgenes.

6. A commodity or commodity product produced from the transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein said commodity or commodity product comprises a cell of said transgenic plant.

7. A progeny plant or seed of the transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein the progeny plant or seed comprises said transgenes.

8. A seed producing the transgenic corn plant of claim 1 .

9. The transgenic plant of claim 1 , further comprising a herbicide tolerance gene.

10. The transgenic plant of claim 9 , wherein the herbicide tolerance gene confers tolerance to glyphosate.

11. The transgenic plant of claim 1 , further comprising a second transgene encoding a second dsRNA for suppression of an essential gene in the target pest.

12. A method for controlling pest infestation comprising providing in the diet of a Western Corn Rootworm the transgenic corn plant of claim 1 or a part thereof.

13. A method for inhibiting the expression of an essential gene product in a pest comprising providing in the diet of a Western Corn Rootworm the transgenic corn plant of claim 1 or a part thereof.

14. A method for improving the yield of a corn crop comprising growing the transgenic corn plant of claim 1 , wherein the yield of the crop is increased in the presence of Western Corn Rootworm relative to a crop not comprising said transgenic plant.

15. The transgenic plant of claim 1 , wherein the dsRNA exerts its effect through a mode of action that is different than the bacterial insecticidal protein.

16. The transgenic plant of claim 1 , wherein the transgene encoding the dsRNA and the transgene encoding the bacterial insecticidal protein are comprises in a stacked transgenic event.

17. A method for controlling a Western Corn Rootworm pest infestation of corn comprising providing in the diet of the pest a dsRNA targeting an essential gene in said pest for suppression and an insecticidal protein that is toxic to the pest.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein the dsRNA and the insecticidal protein are expressed in the corn and wherein the dsRNA and the insecticidal protein employ distinct modes of action.

19. The method of claim 17 , the method comprising delivering an insect control agent to the Western Corn Rootworm, wherein the insect control agent comprises the dsRNA and the insecticidal protein.

20. A method for imparting Western Corn Rootworm resistance to a transgenic plant, the method comprising expressing a first transgene and a second transgene in a transgenic plant, wherein said first transgene encodes a Western Corn Rootworm inhibitory protein and said second transgene encodes a dsRNA targeting for suppression an essential gene in said Western Corn Rootworm.

21. A method for inhibiting Western Corn Rootworm infestation of a corn plant comprising providing two or more pesticidal agents in a transgenic corn plant, wherein said agents are each toxic to Western Corn Rootworm, and wherein a first agent is a pesticidal agent comprising a dsRNA targeting an essential gene in Western Corn Rootworm for suppression, and wherein a second agent is an insecticidal protein, wherein said insecticidal protein is derived from a bacterium.

22. The transgenic plant of claim 9 , wherein the herbicide tolerance gene is a pat gene.

23. The transgenic plant of claim 9 , wherein the herbicide tolerance gene confers tolerance to phosphinothricin.

24. The seed of claim 8 , wherein the seed further comprises an herbicide tolerance gene.

25. The seed of claim 24 , wherein the herbicide tolerance gene confers tolerance to glyphosate.

26. The seed of claim 24 , wherein the herbicide tolerance gene is a pat gene.

27. The seed of claim 24 , wherein the herbicide tolerance gene confers tolerance to phosphinothricin.

Assignees

• Monsanto Technology Llc

Inventors

• Baum James A
• Gilbertson Larry A
• Kovalic David K
• Larosa Thomas J
• Lu Maolong
• Munyikwa Tichafa R I
• Roberts James K
• Wu Wei
• Zhang Bei

Classifications

• A01N63/60

  Isolated nucleic acids · CPC title

• A01N63/50

  Isolated enzymes; Isolated proteins (peptides A01N37/46) · CPC title

• Y02A40/146

  Genetically Modified [GMO] plants, e.g. transgenic plants · CPC title

• C12N15/8286 Primary

  for insect resistance · CPC title

• C12N15/8285

  for nematode resistance · CPC title