Although transgenic crops expressing Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins havebeenusedsuccessfully formanagement of lepidopteranand coleopteran pest species, the sap-sucking insects (Hemiptera) are not particularly susceptible to Bt toxins. To overcome this limitation, we demonstrate that addition of a short peptide sequence selected for binding to the gut of the targeted pest species serves to increase toxicity against said pest. Insertion of a 12-aa pea aphid gut-binding peptide byadding to or replacingamino acids inone of three loops of the Bt cytolytic toxin, Cyt2Aa, resulted in enhanced binding and toxicity against boththe pea aphid,Acyrthosiphon pisum, andthe green peach aphid, Myzus persicae. This strategy may allow for transgenic plant-mediated suppression of other hemipteran pests, which include some of the most important pests of global agriculture.
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