Insecticidal compositions and methods for making insect-resistant transgenic plants

The technology of insect-resistant transgenic plants is expanding very rapidly, with considerable research activity in both the private and public sectors. The only commercialized insect-resistant transgenic plants to date express genes derived from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, but a wide range of genes from higher plants have also been transferred into crop cultivars, especially genes encoding inhibitors of digestive enzymes and lectins. The use of resistance genes from other microorganisms and animals has so far been limited.