Chinese Bt cotton (Guo Sandui)
Algodón Bt chino (Guo Sandui)
- Date
- 1997-1999 · confidence medium
- Place
- Beijing, China
- Credited to
- Guo Sandui, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Guo's team designed a Bt toxin gene (Cry1A) with plant-optimised codons and inserted it in cotton varieties. China approved Monsanto's Bt cotton in 1997 and its own national development (CAAS) in the following years, saving insecticide across millions of hectares.
Guo's synthetic gene was developed in 1991–1993 and approval of his own varieties (GK-12) is placed between 1997 and 1999 depending on the source. Area figures come from ISAAA and studies by Huang, Pray and Rozelle.
What it led to
- Bt cotton on over 95% of China's cotton area
- reduced insecticide use and “spillover” effects on secondary pests
- first mass-diffusion transgenic crop from a developing country