title: No impact of DvSnf7 RNA on honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) adults and larvae in dietary feeding tests.
abstract: The honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) is the most important managed pollinator species worldwide and plays a critical role in the pollination of a diverse range of economically important crops. This species is important to agriculture and historically has been used as a surrogate species for pollinators to evaluate the potential adverse effects for conventional, biological, and microbial pesticides, as well as for genetically engineered plants that produce pesticidal products. As part of the ecological risk assessment of MON 87411 maize, which expresses a double-stranded RNA targeting the Snf7 ortholog (DvSnf7) in western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera virgifera), dietary feeding studies with honey bee larvae and adults were conducted. Based on the mode of action of the DvSnf7 RNA in western corn rootworm, the present studies were designed to be of sufficient duration to evaluate the potential for adverse effects on larval survival and development through emergence and adult survival to a significant portion of the adult stage. Testing was conducted at concentrations of DvSnf7 RNA that greatly exceeded environmentally relevant exposure levels based on expression levels in maize pollen. No adverse effects were observed in either larval or adult honey bees at these high exposure levels, providing a large margin of safety between environmental exposure levels and no-observed-adverse-effect levels.
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Jianguo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Steven L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Pamela M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Bachman
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Jensen
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Geoffrey M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Uffman
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Chen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meng
authors.affiliation: Regulatory Sciences, Monsanto Company, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Zihong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: California Agricultural Research, Kerman, California, USA.
authors.forename: Kathy B
authors.initials: KB
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.affiliation: California Agricultural Research, Kerman, California, USA.
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Beevers
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001516:Bees / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D001517:Coleoptera; D019295:Computational Biology; D004032:Diet; D004777:Environment; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D030841:Food, Genetically Modified; D007814:Larva / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D054817:Pollination; D012313:RNA / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000235:genetics*; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000235:genetics; D018570:Risk Assessment; D016019:Survival Analysis; D003313:Zea mays / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded; D012313:RNA
keywords: DvSnf7 double-stranded RNA; Ecological risk assessment; Honey bee (Apis mellifera)