NOVELTY - Engineered pesticidal polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity to a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or at least one amino acid mutation at a position that corresponds to a position identified as given in the table 1 of the specification, is new, where the mutation improves pesticidal activity of the engineered polypeptide against at least Ostrinia nubilalis compared to the European corn borer (ECB) activity of a wild-type polypeptide from which the engineered polypeptide is derived.    USE - The engineered pesticidal polypeptide is useful for controlling Ostrinia nubilalis (European corn borer) insects, and protecting a transgenic plant against feeding damage by pests, where the insect includes Plutella xylostella (diamondback moth), Spodoptera frugiperda (fall armyworm), Agrotis ipsilon (black cutworm), Helicoverpa zea (corn earworm), Heliothis virescens (tobacco budworm), Spodoptera exigua (beet armyworm), Helicoverpa punctigera (native budworm), Helicoverpa armigera (cotton bollworm), Manduca sexta (tobacco homworm), Trichoplusia ni (cabbage looper), Pectinophora gossypiella (pink bollworm) and Cochylis hospes (banded sunflower moth), and the plant is Sorghum, wheat, sunflower, tomato, cole crops, cotton, rice, soybean, sugar beet, sugar cane, tobacco, barley, oilseed rape and maize (preferred) (all claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The engineered pesticidal polypeptide has high specific activity, provides an economic benefit to farmers, and is eco-friendly.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Engineered pesticidal polypeptide comprising an amino acid sequence having at least 95% identity to a sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or at least one amino acid mutation at a position that corresponds to a position identified as given in the table 1 of the specification, is new, where the mutation improves pesticidal activity of the engineered polypeptide against at least Ostrinia nubilalis compared to the European corn borer (ECB) activity of a wild-type polypeptide from which the engineered polypeptide is derived, where sequences not defined here may be found at ftp://ftp.wipo.int/pub/published-pct-sequences/publication. INDEPENDENT CLAIMS are included for:    (1) a recombinant nucleic acid molecule comprising a nucleotide sequence encoding the polypeptide;    (2) a recombinant vector comprising the nucleic acid molecule;    (3) a transgenic non-human host cell comprising the nucleic acid molecule;    (4) a transgenic plant comprising the plant cell;    (5) a product harvested from the plant;    (6) a processed product produced from the harvested product;    (7) a crop comprising the plants planted together in an agricultural field;    (8) a transgenic seed comprising either the recombinant nucleic acid molecule, or the pesticidal polypeptides produced by the method;    (9) an extract from the transgenic seed or the transgenic plant, where the extract comprises the recombinant nucleic acid molecule and/or the polypeptide;    (10) a method for producing a pest-resistant transgenic plant, comprising introducing the recombinant nucleic acid molecule into the plant, where the nucleotide sequence is expressed in the plant to confer to the plantresistance to the European com borer, and producing a pest-resistant transgenic plant;    (11) a method for controlling European corn borer insects, comprising delivering the polypeptide to the insects;    (12) a method of producing a Vip polypeptide having improved pesticidal activity against a target cell and/or organism, comprising either (a) aligning amino acid sequences of Vip polypeptides having at least 80% identity to one another, where at least one of the Vip polypeptides exhibits at least moderate toxicity and at least one exhibits no or low toxicity toward the target cell and/or organism, (b) identifying at least one amino acid residue that differs between at least two of the aligned Vip polypeptide sequences of (a), (c) substituting an amino acid residue for at least one amino acid residue identified in step (b) to produce a modified Vip polypeptide, (d) determining the level of pesticidal activity of the modified Vip polypeptide produced at step (c) against the target cell and/or organism, and (e) selecting a modified Vip polypeptide of (d) having improved pesticidal activity against the target cell and/or organism, or the step (a) as above per se, identifying an essential amino acid position, a synergist amino acid position and/or a cryptic synergist amino acid position in the aligned Vip amino acid sequences and the steps (c)-(e) as above per se;    (13) a transgenic plant comprising the pesticidal polypeptides produced by the method;    (14) a method for protecting a transgenic plant against feeding damage by one or more pests or enhancing protection of the transgenic plant against feeding damage by pests, comprising providing the seed for the transgenic plant, where the seed comprises the nucleic acid molecule, and treating the seed with a pesticide in combination with the polypeptide; and    (15) the preparation of the engineered pesticidal polypeptide.