Embrapa launches GMO sugarcane resistant to glyphosate, Diatraea Saccharalis caterpillar

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

The Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (Embrapa) finalized its related field tests and announced the launch of its transgenic sugarcane, “BtRR,” which is a genetically-modified variety that combines two modes of action, to ensure resistance to the caterpillar, Diatraea Saccharalis, and the herbicide, glyphosate, used to control invasive plants.

The GMO sugarcane was developed in partnership with the startup, PangeiaBiotech, and has proven to be resistant to the application of four times the commercial dosage of glyphosate. For genetic engineering, genes commonly used in soybean, corn and cotton crops in Brazil were selected and adapted to sugarcane.

“The great advantage of this technology is the expression of two bioinsecticidal proteins throughout the plant, which are toxic to susceptible insects but harmless to other organisms. These two modes of action will increase the useful life of the technology. In addition, resistance to the herbicide facilitates the management of weeds in the field,” explained Embrapa researcher Hugo Molinari (Project Leader).

The plant’s “double transgenics” makes it difficult to break resistance, optimizing the control of the sugarcane borer compared to using chemical insecticides and biological control. Currently, the market has two varieties of transgenic sugarcane, CTC20BT and CTC9001BT, developed by the Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC) to resist sugarcane borer, but both only have one Cry protein and are not resistant to glyphosate.

Diatraea saccharalis is currently the main pest of sugarcane and studies indicate that its incidence and dispersion have been increasing, due to the raw mechanized harvest and increasing use of straw in sugarcane crops, causing estimated losses of R$5 billions per crop year. Brazil is the world's largest grower of sugarcane, which is used to produce sugar, ethanol, biomass and inputs, such as cattle feed, distilled beverages, molasses, proteins, amino acids and even ecological plastics.