In 1996, Bt-cotton (cotton expressing a Bacillus thuringiensis toxin gene) expressing the Cry1Ac protein was commercially introduced to control cotton pests. A threat to this first generation of transgenic cotton is the evolution of resistance by the insects. Second-generation Bt-cotton has been developed with either new B. thuringiensis genes or with a combination of cry genes. However, one re...

The Cryptochrome (CRY) proteins are critical components of the mammalian circadian clock and act to rhythmically repress the activity of the transcriptional activators CLOCK and BMAL1 at the heart of the clock mechanism. The CRY proteins are part of a large repressive complex, the components of which are not completely known. Using mass spectroscopy, we identified the catalytic subunit of DNA-d...

The biological control function provided by natural enemies is regarded as a protection goal that should not be harmed by the application of any new pest management tool. Plants producing Cry proteins from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), have become a major tactic for controlling pest Lepidoptera on cotton and maize and risk assessment studies are needed to ensure they do not harm i...

Sesamia nonagrioides is one of the most damaging pests of corn in Spain and other Mediterranean countries. Bt corn expressing the Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ab toxin is being grown on about 58,000 ha in Spain. Here we studied the mode of action of this Cry protein on S. nonagrioides (binding to specific receptors, stability of binding, and pore formation) and the modes of action of other Cry pr...

Cryptochrome (CRY) is the primary circadian photoreceptor in Drosophila. It resets the circadian clock by promoting light-induced degradation of the clock proteins Timeless and Period, as well as its own proteolysis. The E3 ligases that ubiquitylate Timeless and Period before degradation are known and it is known that Drosophila (d) CRY is degraded by the ubiquitin-proteasome system as well. To...

Circadian (∼24 hr) clocks regulate daily rhythms in physiology, metabolism, and behavior via cell-autonomous transcriptional feedback loops. In Drosophila, the blue-light photoreceptor CRYPTOCHROME (CRY) synchronizes these feedback loops to light:dark cycles by binding to and degrading TIMELESS (TIM) protein. CRY also acts independently of TIM in Drosophila to alter potassium channel conductanc...

Recent studies demonstrate distinct changes in gene expression in cells exposed to a weak magnetic field (MF). Mechanisms of this phenomenon are not understood yet. We propose that proteins of the Cryptochrome family (CRY) are "epigenetic sensors" of the MF fluctuations, i.e., magnetic field-sensitive part of the epigenetic controlling mechanism. It was shown that CRY represses activity of the ...