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Cotton is a commercial crop of global importance. The major threat challenging the productivity in cotton has been the lepidopteron insect pest  Helicoverpa armigera  or cotton bollworm which voraciously feeds on various plant parts. Biotechnological interventions to manage this herbivore have been a universally inevitable option. The advent of plant genetic engineering and exploitation of  Bacillus thuringiensis  ( Bt ) insecticidal crystal proteins (ICPs) marked the beginning of plant protection in cotton through transgenic technology. Despite phenomenal success and widespread acceptance, the fear of resistance development in insects has been a perennial concern. To address this issue, alternate strategies like introgression of a combination of cry protein genes and protein-engineered chimeric toxin genes came into practice. The utility of chimeric toxins produced by domain swapping, rearrangement of domains, and other strategies aid in toxins emerging with broad spectrum efficacy that facilitate the avoidance of resistance in insects toward cry toxins. The present study demonstrates the utility of two  Bt  ICPs,  cry1AcF  (produced by domain swapping) and  cry2Aa  (produced by codon modification) in transgenic cotton for the mitigation of  H. armigera.  Transgenics were developed in cotton cv. Pusa 8–6 by the exploitation of an apical meristem-targeted  in planta  transformation protocol. Stringent trait efficacy-based selective screening of T 1  and T 2  generation transgenic plants enabled the identification of plants resistant to  H. armigera  upon deliberate challenging. Evaluation of shortlisted events in T 3  generation identified a total of nine superior transgenic events with both the genes (six with  cry1AcF  and three with  cry2Aa ). The transgenic plants depicted 80–100% larval mortality of  H. armigera  and 10–30% leaf damage. Molecular characterization of the shortlisted transgenics demonstrated stable integration, inheritance and expression of transgenes. The study is the first of its kind to utilise a non-tissue culture-based transformation strategy for the development of stable transgenics in cotton harbouring two novel genes,  cry1AcF  and  cry2Aa  for insect resistance. The identified transgenic events can be potential options toward the exploitation of unique  cry  genes for the management of the polyphagous insect pest  H. armigera .

Exploitation of Novel Bt ICPs for the Management of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner) in Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.): A Transgenic Approach