Insect inhibitory toxin family active against hemipteran and/or lepidopteran insects

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9238678-B2
Application number	US-201213441436-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 6, 2012
Priority date	Apr 7, 2011
Publication date	Jan 19, 2016
Grant date	Jan 19, 2016

Abstract

The present invention discloses a genus of insect inhibitory proteins that exhibit properties directed to controlling Lepidopteran and/or Hemipteran crop pests, methods of using such proteins, nucleotide sequences encoding such proteins, methods of detecting and isolating such proteins, and their use in agricultural systems.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a heterologous promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide segment encoding a pesticidal protein or fragment thereof, wherein:
(a) said pesticidal protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4;
(b) said pesticidal protein comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 80% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4; or
(c) said polynucleotide segment hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to a polynucleotide having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3.

2. The recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 , wherein said pesticidal protein comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 90% identity to SEQ ID NO:4.

3. The recombinant nucleic acid molecule claim 1 , wherein said pesticidal protein comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity to SEQ ID NO:4.

4. An insect inhibitory composition comprising the recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 .

5. The insect inhibitory composition of claim 4 , further comprising at least one pesticidal agent, wherein said pesticidal agent is different from said pesticidal protein, wherein said pesticidal agent is selected from the group consisting of an insect inhibitory protein, an insect inhibitory dsRNA molecule, and an ancillary protein.

6. The insect inhibitory composition of claim 5 , wherein said pesticidal agent exhibits insect inhibitory activity against the same Hemipteran species, and wherein said pesticidal agent is selected from the group consisting of a TIC807 protein, a TIC853 protein, a Cry51Aa1 protein, and a AXMI-171 protein.

7. A method of controlling a Lepidopteran or Hemipteran species pest, said method comprising contacting said pest with an insect inhibitory amount of the pesticidal protein of claim 1 .

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said Lepidopteran or Hemipteran species pest is in a crop field.

9. The recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 present within a host cell, wherein the host cell is selected from the group consisting of a bacterial cell and a plant cell.

10. The recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 9 , wherein said host cell is from a genus of bacteria selected from the group consisting of: Bacillus, Escherichia, Salmonella, Agrobacterium, Pseudomonas , and Rhizobium , and wherein said Bacillus species is a Bacillus thuringiensis, Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus megaterium, Bacillus cereus , or a Bacillus laterosperous.

11. The host cell of claim 9 , wherein said host cell is from a plant selected from the group consisting of alfalfa, banana, barley, bean, broccoli, cabbage, brassica, carrot, cassava, castor, cauliflower, celery, chickpea, Chinese cabbage, citrus, coconut, coffee, corn, clover, cotton, a cucurbit, cucumber, Douglas fir, eggplant, eucalyptus, flax, garlic, grape, hops, leek, lettuce, Loblolly pine, millets, melons, nut, oat, olive, onion, ornamental, palm, pasture grass, pea, peanut, pepper, pigeonpea, pine, potato, poplar, pumpkin, Radiata pine, radish, rapeseed, rice, rootstocks, rye, safflower, shrub, sorghum, Southern pine, soybean, spinach, squash, strawberry, sugar beet, sugarcane, sunflower, sweet corn, sweet gum, sweet potato, switchgrass, tea, tobacco, tomato, triticale, turf grass, watermelon, and wheat.

12. The host cell of claim 11 , wherein said host cell is from a plant part selected from the group consisting of a seed, a boll, a leaf, a flower, a stem, and a root.

13. The host cell of claim 11 , wherein said host cell further comprises a herbicide tolerance marker.

14. The recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 , wherein the recombinant nucleic acid molecule optionally:
(a) comprises a sequence that functions to express the pesticidal protein in a plant; or
(b) is expressed in a plant cell to produce an insect inhibitory amount of the pesticidal protein.

15. The pesticidal protein of claim 1 , wherein said pesticidal protein exhibits insect inhibitory activity against a Hemipteran pest species.

16. The pesticidal protein of claim 15 , wherein the Hemipteran species is selected from the group consisting of L. hesperus, L. lineolaris, A. hilare, E. serous, N. viridula, M. persicae, A. glycines , and A. gossypii.

17. The pesticidal protein of claim 1 , wherein said pesticidal protein exhibits insect inhibitory activity against a Lepidopteran pest species.

18. The pesticidal protein of claim 17 , wherein the Lepidopteran species is selected from the group consisting of H. zea, O. nubilalis, D. saccharalis, D. grandiosella, A. gemmatalis, S. frugiperda, S. exigua, A. ipsilon, T ni, P. includens, H. virescens, P. xylostella, P. gossypiella, H. armigera, E. lignosellus , and P. citrella.

19. A plant comprising a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a heterologous promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide segment encoding a pesticidal protein or fragment thereof, wherein:
(a) said pesticidal protein comprises the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:4; or
(b) said pesticidal protein comprises an amino acid sequence having at least 80% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO: 4; or
(c) said polynucleotide segment hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to the compliment of the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO: 3; or
(d) said plant exhibits a detectable amount of said pesticidal protein, wherein the pesticidal protein of SEQ ID NO:4.

20. A seed from the plant of claim 19 , wherein the seed comprises the recombinant nucleic acid molecule.

21. A method of producing seed comprising the recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 , the method comprising:
(a) planting at least one of the seed that comprises the recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 ;
(b) growing plants from said seed;
(c) harvesting seed from said plants, wherein said harvested seed comprises the recombinant nucleic acid molecule of claim 1 .

22. A plant resistant to insect infestation, wherein the cells of the plant optionally comprise:
(a) a recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding an insecticidally effective amount of a pesticidal protein of SEQ ID NO:4; or
(b) an insecticidally effective amount of a pesticidal protein comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 80% amino acid sequence identity to SEQ ID NO:4.

23. A commodity product comprising a detectable amount of the pesticidal protein of claim 1 .

24. The commodity product of claim 23 , selected from the group consisting of flakes, cakes, flour, meal, syrup, oil, silage, starch, and cereal.

Assignees

• Bowen David J
• Chay Catherine
• Evdokimov Artem
• Schroder Megan N
• Slightom Rachael N
• Kesanapalli Uma R
• Tao Nengbing
• Wollacott Andrew M
• Monsanto Technology Llc

Inventors

• Bowen David J
• Chay Catherine
• Evdokimov Artem
• Schroder Megan N
• Slightom Rachael N
• Kesanapalli Uma R
• Tao Nengbing
• Wollacott Andrew M

Classifications

• C12N15/8286 Primary

  for insect resistance · CPC title

• C07K14/32

  from Bacillus (G) · CPC title

• C07K14/001 Primary

  by chemical synthesis · CPC title

• A01N65/04

  Pteridophyta [fern allies]; Filicophyta [ferns] · CPC title

• Y02A40/146

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