ARS chemist Karl Kramer and other scientists showed that avidin blocks insect growth by tying up a vitamin called biotin. If the bugs can't get their biotin, they can't grow, says Dr. Kramer, at the ARS Grain Marketing and Production Research Center in Manhattan, Kansas. E ach year, insects cause millions of dollars of damage by chewing on stored products like corn, wheat, rice and grain sorghum. ARS scientists are working to find ways to control these insect pests without chemicals. Together, these scientists are able to stay one step ahead of the insects.
T here are many different kinds of stored-grain insects.
Some, like the sawtoothed grain beetle and the confused flour beetle, get into food containers in home cupboards through cracks and holes. This borrowed gene helps the corn fight off attacks by insects, even when it's stored in grain bins or kitchen cupboards for months. S cientists have used this idea of borrowed genes before. But Dr. Kramer thinks that putting avidin into corn is even smarter, because avidin can kill more kinds of insects. Bt mainly kills moths and only a few beetles.