Scientists Help Out Soybeans

The sap-sucking pest causes a variety of harm to the plant, including stunted growth, disfigured leaves, poor pod formation, and eventual death. But when scientists let wingless females and their nymph offspring go after the resistant beans' leaves, neither form of the pest survived long.

About 94 to 100 percent of the females died within 10 days - compared to 17 percent on a nonresistant plant, Hartman reports, adding that nymphs suffered a similar fate.

These new, high-yielding, Rag1-expressing plants could be available by 2008. Until then, scientists will continue searching for other resistance genes.