Malunggay Pasta

Methodology

Procedures: A. Procedure in BT Technology

DNA technology makes it possible to locate the gene that produces BT proteins lethal to insects and transfer the gene into pineapple plants.

1. The BT gene that produces the desired lethal protein is joined to a maker gene for anti-biotic resistance.

2. BT gene + maker are inserted into plant cell.

3. Plant cells are grown in the presence of anti-biotic.

4. Cells that carry the BT gene + anti-biotic resistance gene survive and are grown into plants.

B. Procedures in transferring BT into the Pineapple plants.
1. Identify a strain of BT that kills the targeted insect.
2. Isolate the gene that produces the lethal protein. That gene is removed from the BT bacterium and a gene conferring resistance to a chemical (usually antibiotic or herbicide) is attached that will prove useful in a later step.
3. The BT gene with the resistance gene attached is inserted into the pineapple plant cells. At this point, we must determine which plant cells have successfully received the BT gene and are now transformed. Any plant cell that has the BT gene must also have the resistance gene that was attached to it.
4. Grow the pineapple plant cells in the presence of the antibiotic or herbicide and select the pineapple plant cells that are unaffected by it.
5. These genetically transformed pineapple plant cells are then grown into whole plants by a process called tissue culture. The modified plants produce the same lethal BT protein produced by BT bacteria because the plants now have the same gene.