ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the establishment and maintenance of insect colonies for the insect-resistant recombinant plant discovery effort at Monsanto. The essential role of insect rearing in transgenic plant commercialization is often overlooked amidst the glamour of the technology. The rapid development of molecular biology techniques has permitted incorporation of genes coding for expression of Bt delta-endotoxin proteins into both plants and other microbe species. Surveys of target pest populations from geographic regions of proposed transgenic plant use can provide valuable information on pre-existing genetic variability for resistance and may also influence resistance management and product use decisions. A common practice for increasing genetic heterozygosity involves outcrossing laboratory females to wild males. A bane of maintaining insect colonies for prolonged periods of time is the gradual decrease in mating, oviposition, larval survivorship, and pupal eclosion that can result from an inbreeding depression.
