<p style="text-align: justify;">MON88017 maize was produced by <i>Agrobacterium</i>-mediated transformation of the hybrid maize line LH198. The T-DNA segment of the vector plasmid PV-ZMIR39 contained sequences corresponding to a synthetic variant of the <i>cry</i>3Bb1 gene from <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i> subsp. <i>kumamotoensis</i> strain EG4691 and the <i>cp4 epsps</i> gene from <i>Agrobacterium tumefaciens</i> strain CP4. Transcription of the <i>cry</i>3Bb1 gene was directed by the 35S promoter with a duplicated enhancer region from Cauliflower Mosaic Virus, the 5&rsquo; untranslated leader from the wheat chlorophyll a/b-binding protein, and was enhanced by the rice actin gene first intron. Terminator and polyadenylation sequences were derived from the 3&rsquo; untranslated region of the wheat heat shock protein (tahsp17 3&rsquo;).</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">The <i>cp4 epsps</i> gene, which codes for the novel protein CP4 EPSPS, was joined to the chloroplast transit peptide gene (<i>ctp2</i>), isolated from <i>Arabidopsis thaliana</i>) to target the expression of the novel protein to the chloroplast. The expression of the <i>cp4 epsps</i> gene was regulated by the rice actin gene promoter and enhanced by the rice actin gene first intron. Terminator and polyadenylation sequences were derived the 3&rsquo; untranslated region of the nopaline synthase (NOS) coding sequence. The left border sequence (from octopine Ti plasmid pTi15955) and right border (from nopaline Ti plasmid pTiT37) contained non-coding sequences essential for the transfer of the T-DNA segment.</p>
