Cotton is a major fiber crop of global importance, it is grown only in tropical and subtropical regions. [1] However, various types of pests attack cotton and other monoculture crops, such as the cotton bollworm Helicoverpa armigera, the native bollworm H. punctigera, and occasionally spider mites. These pests cause extensive damage to crops; therefore, cotton has been genetically modified to produce specific toxins for insect tolerance, called BT toxin. BT cotton is a type of transgenic cotton containing a protein induced by the gene of the soil bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis (BT). The protein-encoded genes were incorporated into cotton plants by Monsanto, an American agricultural biotechnology company. In 1980, Monsanto identified and extracted the BT genes, the gene encoding the BT protein (Cry1Ac) was successfully inserted into cotton. In 1996, insect-resistant GM cotton was grown commercially for the first time after six years of field studies. [2]BT cotton is produced by inserting an artificial gene from the naturally occurring soil bacterium into cotton seeds; the gene contains DNA that contains instructions for producing the internal toxic protein that allows the plant to be effective against worms. Below are photos showing a typical BT cotton plant and its flowers. BT cotton is different from conventionally bred cotton in that it is a genotype developed through genetic engineering techniques. BT genes must be acquired in significant quantities before they can be transferred into an organism. DNA is extracted from the gene and inserted into the bacterial plasmid. "The plasmid is a linear or circular double-stranded DNA capable of replicating independently of the chromosomal DNA." ...... half of the article ...... ed, accessed 22 February 2014 http://mv.picse.net/pesticides/cotton/how-was-bt-cotton-produced/ [3] Biology Online, 3 February 2009, Plasmid, accessed 25 February 2014 http://www.biology-online.org/dictionary/Plasmid [4]Agricultural Biotechnology Council of Australia, GM Cotton in Australia: a Resource Guide, p. 2, accessed 25 February 2014 http://www.abca.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/ABCA_Resource_Guide_3_v2.pdf [5]Jamie Pighin, 20 August 2006, How genetics is supplying new Ways to imagine agriculture, accessed 27 February 2014 http://www.scq.ubc.ca/transgenic-crops-how-genetics-is-providing-new-ways-to-envision-agriculture/ [6] http:// www.cottoncrc. org.au/communities/cotton_info/the_science_behind_transgeniccotton [7]Cotton Australia, Cotton and Biotechnology, accessed 4 March 2014http://cottonaustralia.com.au/cotton-library/fact-sheets/cotton-fact-file-biotechnology