Cotton event 281-24-236 was developed through Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation with vector pGSV71. It contains:

• the insecticidal gene cry1Fa. The cry1Fa in this GM cotton line is a chimeric gene containing parts of two other cry1 genes of Bacillus thuringiensis. It was developed to improve the level of expression of the encoded Cry1Fa proteins in plants and enhance their solubility in the insect gut. However, the encoded Bt toxin is very similar to the native Cry1Fa.

• a herbicide tolerance selectable marker gene, pat, that confers tolerance to the herbicide glufosinate ammonium.

Southern blot analysis demonstrates that the event 281-24-236 contains one intact copy of the insecticidal gene, chimeric cry1Fa, and one intact copy plus an additional small fragment of the pat gene.

The gene construct has been shown to be stable over several generations, both by phenotype (insecticidal and glufosinate ammonium tolerance) and Southern blot analysis, adhering to Mendelian inheritance ratios.