Beyond breeding: pest-resistant plants and public perception

Plants that are resistant to disease and insect pests have been prized for a long time. Farmers and breeders have selected variants with heightened resistance, carefully introducing these traits into desirable cultivars. However, many desirable traits identified in one species cannot be used to best advantage in others because of cross-species sexual incompatibility. Although molecular breeding accelerates the movement of a gene between compatible cultivars, the cross-species barrier can only be leaped using biotechnology. The successful expression of Bacillus thuringiensis toxins and select-resistance genes (R genes) across species has fueled the hunt for new resistance sources using all the molecular, genetic and genomic tools available. The anticipated development of new traits, trangenically introduced as needed, parallels the policy debate of how such plants should be handled in the field and in the food supply. These two topics formed the basis of a recent meeting.