Pioneer
Choose a Country
en_USUnited States
Products & Services
Corn
Planning
Planting
Monitoring
Harvest & Utilization
Herculex® Insect Protection technology
About Herculex Insect Protection
Broadest Spectrum of Insect Control
Black Cutworm Control
Rootworm Protection
Western Bean Cutworm Protection
Virtual Field Day
Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour
Soybeans
Forages
Optimum® GAT® Trait
Canola
Sorghum
Sunflower
Wheat
Biofuels
MarketPoint® Resource
Seed Products & Traits by Region
Yield Data
Yield Contest Results
Pioneer IndustrySelect® Program - End-Use
Related Product Information
Programs & Services

Quick Facts about YieldGard® VT


What is YieldGard VT Rootworm/Roundup Ready® Corn 2 (RR2)?
  • YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2 is the brand name for Monsanto's new event MON88017. This event combines cry3Bb Bt protein for rootworm with EPSPS CP4 protein for glyphosate tolerance. These are the same proteins used in YieldGard RW and Roundup Ready Corn 2.

Is YieldGard VT Rootworm/RR2 unique in having more than one gene inserted at once into corn?
  • No.
  • Several products, including Herculex® I and Herculex RW^, contain molecular stacks of two or more genes. Herculex I, launched in 2003, is a stack of a cry1F gene and the PAT gene which confers tolerance to Liberty® herbicide. Herculex RW combines three genes including two Bt rootworm genes (cry34Ab1 and cry35Ab1) and the PAT gene for Liberty tolerance (LibertyLink® gene).

Did Monsanto use different promoters to express the cry3Bb and EPSPS proteins?
  • Both YieldGard VT and YieldGard RW use an enhanced 35s promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus.
  • Roundup Ready Corn 2 uses two different promoters (rice actin 1 and enhanced 35s promoter from CaMV) to express the EPSPS protein. YieldGard VT uses only 1 promoter, rice actin 1, to express EPSPS.

Does the YieldGard VT triple stack you may have heard about contain new genes?
  • No. The new VT triple stack contains MON88017 and MON810 — the same genes as YieldGard Plus^.

What is Agrobacterium transformation?
  • This is a method where a bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens or a related strain, transfers the genes of interest into cells of the crop plant. This method has been widely used to transform dicot plants like cotton, canola, potatoes and sugarbeets. Some people call it “agro technology.”

Is Monsanto first to commercialize a transgenic corn product using this method?
  • No.
  • Pioneer was one of the first to license agro technology for corn from a company called Japan Tobacco and has since developed and patented our own improvements to the technology. Herculex RW, commercialized in 2006, was developed by Pioneer and Dow AgroSciences using Agrobacterium transformation.

Does this transformation process have advantages over other methods?
  • Agrobacterium transformation works well for dicots like soybeans, but has been more difficult to use until recently with monocots like corn. Japan Tobacco made the breakthrough for corn and patented its technology.
  • Biolistic or particle bombardment using a gene gun has been used successfully to create numerous transgenic corn and soybean events that are in the market today.
  • One potential advantage of Agrobacterium transformation is a higher production of events that have a single, intact copy of the genes of interest. However, both methods still require screening tens if not hundreds of events to find the best event that both optimally expresses the genes of interest and delivers high yielding, agronomically sound products.
Pioneer Cap

RR2
® Roundup Ready is a registered trademark used under license from Monsanto Company.
*All products are trademarks of their manufacturers.
YGRW
® YieldGard and the YieldGard Rootworm design are registered trademarks used under license from Monsanto Company.
YGPL
® YieldGard and the YieldGard Plus design are registered trademarks used under license from Monsanto Company.
Herculex Insect Protection technologyHX1
Herculex® Insect Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred. ® Herculex and the HX logo are registered trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC.
Herculex Insect Protection technologyHXRW
Herculex® RW Rootworm Protection technology by Dow AgroSciences and Pioneer Hi-Bred. ® Herculex and the HX logo are registered trademarks of Dow AgroSciences LLC.
LL
Ignite®, LibertyLink and the Water Droplet logo are trademarks of Bayer.
Market Choices

^ Grain harvested from products that bear this mark is fully approved for food and feed use in the United States and Japan, but is not approved in the European Union. You must find a market for this crop that will not ship this grain or its processed products to Europe. Appropriate markets for this grain include: domestic feed use or grain handlers that specifically agree to accept this grain and handle it appropriately. For more information on your grain market options, go to the American Seed Trade Association's website at www.amseed.org or call your seed supplier.

MARKET CHOICES is a certification mark used under license from ASTA.

Know Before You Grow(SM), an information service provided by National Corn Growers Association at www.ncga.com.