title: No impact of transgenic nptII-leafy Pinus radiata (Pinales: Pinaceae) on Pseudocoremia suavis (Lepidoptera: Geometridae) or its endoparasitoid Meteorus pulchricornis (Hymenoptera: Braconidae).
abstract: To investigate the biosafety to insects of transgenic Pinus radiata D. Don containing the antibiotic resistance marker gene nptII and the reproductive control gene leafy, bioassays were conducted with an endemic lepidopteran pest of New Zealand plantation pine forests  and a hymenopteran endoparasitoid. Larvae of the common forest looper, Pseudocoremia suavis (Butler), were fed from hatching on P. radiata needles from either one of two nptII-leafy transgenic clones, or an isogenic unmodified control line. For both unparasitized P. suavis and  those parasitized by Meteorus pulchricornis (Wesmael), consuming transgenic versus control pine had no impact on larval growth rate or mass at any age, larval duration, survival, pupation or successful emergence as an adult. Total larval duration was 1 d (3%) longer in larvae fed nptII-2  than nptII-1, but this difference was considered trivial and neither differed from the control. In unparasitized P. suavis larvae, pine type consumed did not affect rate of pupation or adult emergence, pupal mass, or pupal duration. Pine type had no effect on the duration or  survival of M. pulchricornis larval or pupal stages, mass of cocoons, stage at which they died, adult emergence, or fecundity. Parasitism by M. pulchricornis reduced P. suavis larval growth rate, increased the duration of the third larval stadium, and resulted in the death of all host larvae  before pupation. The lack of impact of an exclusive diet of nptII-leafy transgenic pines on the life history of P. suavis and M. pulchricornis suggests that transgenic plantation pines expressing nptII are unlikely to affect insect populations in the field.
authors.affiliation: The NewZealand Institute for Plant & Food Research Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand.
authors.forename: E P J
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Burgess
authors.forename: E I
authors.initials: EI
authors.lastname: Barraclough
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Kean
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Walter
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Malone
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development; D009036:Moths / Q000502:physiology*; D028223:Pinus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000469:parasitology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000469:parasitology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014863:Wasps / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D029681:Arabidopsis Proteins; C074747:LFY protein, Arabidopsis; D014157:Transcription Factors