The oral toxicity of the transgenic Bt+CpTI cotton pollen to honeybees (Apis mellifera).
Transgenic insect-resistant cotton has been planted in China in a large scale and may have adverse impacts on honeybees. Pollens from the transgenic Cry1Ac+CpTI cotton Zhong-41 and the parental cotton Zhong-23 were collected from the field and their impacts on adult worker bees were assessed. Experimental results showed that Zhong-41 pollen had no acute oral toxic effect on worker bees. No significant differences were observed in the superoxide dismutase activity or in the longevity of worker bees fed with diets containing the two cotton pollens. The main reasons for the outcome may be the low expression level of the transgenic proteins Cry1Ac and CpTI in the pollen of Zhong-41 as well as the substantial equivalence in the amounts of gross protein and soluble saccharides for the two cotton pollens. The implications of these results are discussed and further work to be carried out is put forward.
Liu
Biao
B
State Key Biosafety Laboratory, Nanjing Institute of Environmental Sciences (NIES), Ministry of Environmental Protection of China, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210042, China. 85287064@163.com
Shu
Chang
C
Xue
Kun
K
Zhou
Kexin
K
Li
Xiaogang
X
Liu
Doudou
D
Zheng
Yangping
Y
Xu
Chongren
C
D000818:Animals; D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D001516:Bees / Q000502:physiology*; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D003368:Gossypium / Q000235:genetics* / Q000633:toxicity*; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity; D008136:Longevity / Q000187:drug effects; D009005:Monosaccharides / Q000032:analysis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000633:toxicity; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000633:toxicity*; D011058:Pollen / Q000235:genetics* / Q000633:toxicity*; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D016019:Survival Analysis
D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004731:Endotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D009005:Monosaccharides; D010940:Plant Proteins; C030956:insecticidal crystal protein, Bacillus Thuringiensis; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase