Evaluation of dietary effects of transgenic corn pollen expressing Cry3Bb1 protein on a non-target ladybird beetle, Coleomegilla maculata

A transgenic corn event (MON 863) has been recently developed by Monsanto Company for control of corn rootworms, Diabrotica spp. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). This transgenic corn event expresses the cry3Bb1 gene derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Berliner), which encodes the insecticidal Cry3Bb1 protein for corn rootworm control. A continuous feeding study was conducted in the laboratory to evaluate the dietary effect of MON 863 pollen expressing the Cry3Bb1 protein on the survival, larval development, and reproductive capacity of the non-target species, Coleomegilla maculata DeGeer (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). First instar C. maculata (less than 24 h old) and newly emerging adults (less than 72 h old) were fed individually on a diet mixture containing 50% of MON 863 pollen, non-transgenic (control) corn pollen, bee pollen (a component of normal rearing diet), or potassium arsenate-treated control corn pollen. In the larval tests, 96.7%, 90.0%, and 93.3% of C. maculata larvae successfully pupated and then emerged as adults when fed on MON 863 pollen, non-transgenic corn pollen, and bee pollen (normal rearing) diets, respectively. Among the larvae completing their development, there were no significant differences in the developmental time to pupation and adult emergence among the transgenic corn pollen, non-transgenic corn pollen, and bee pollen diet treatments. All larvae fed on arsenate treated corn pollen diet died as larvae. For tests with adults, 83.3%, 80.0%, and 100% of adult C. maculata survived for the 30 days of the test period when reared on diets containing 50% of MON 863 pollen, non-transgenic corn pollen, and bee pollen respectively. While the adult survival rate on MON 863 pollen diet was significantly less than that on the bee pollen diet, there was no significant difference between the MON 863 and non-transgenic corn pollen treatments. During the period of adult testing, an average of 77, 80, and 89 eggs per female were laid by females fed on the MON 863 pollen, control corn pollen, and bee pollen, respectively; no significant differences were detected in the number of eggs laid among these treatments. These results demonstrate that when offered at 50% by weight of the dietary component, transgenic corn (MON 863) pollen expressing Cry3Bb1 protein had no measurable negative effect on the survival and development of C. maculata larvae to pupation and adulthood nor any adverse effect on adult survival and reproductive capacity. Relevance of these findings to ecological impacts of transgenic Bt crops on non-target beneficial insects is discussed.     

转Bt-cry1Ah基因玉米花粉对意大利蜜蜂幼虫的影响

新型杀虫蛋白基因crylAh基因是中国农业科学院植物保护研究所从Bt菌株BT8中鉴定克隆的,其编码蛋白对鳞翅目害虫具有强毒力,尤其对亚洲玉米螟Ostriniafurnacalis（Guen6e）的毒力强于目前使用的crylA类基因。转crylAh基因抗虫玉米具有很好的应用前景。花粉是蜜蜂重要的食物来源,蜜蜂是转基因植物安全性评价的关键测试生物。因此,开展转crylAh基因玉米对蜜蜂的安全性研究很有必要。给意大利蜜蜂ApismelliferoligusticoSpirola蜂群中4-6日龄幼虫饲喂转基因玉米花粉、常规玉米花粉、杂花粉,哺育蜂饲喂为对照。转基因玉米花粉对意大利蜜蜂封盖率、出房率和发育历期没有显著影响。表明转crylAh基因玉米花粉对意大利蜜蜂幼虫的存活和发育没有不良影响。     

盐碱旱地转Bt基因抗虫棉田主要害虫及其天敌种群消长动态

【目的】近年来,我国长江流域和黄河流域棉花面积锐减,种植区域向滨海盐碱地或干旱地转移。研究盐碱旱地转基因棉田与非转基因棉田昆虫群落差异,可为盐碱旱地对转基因棉田生物影响和盐碱旱地转基因棉田害虫防治提供理论指导。【方法】在山东东营和河北枣强盐碱干旱地转Bt基因棉田分别设置常规施药田和非施药田,进行了系统的田间昆虫种群消长动态的调查和统计分析。【结果】中轻度盐碱旱地种植转基因棉花对靶标害虫棉铃虫具有较好的控制作用;与非转基因棉花相比,对其他非靶标害虫棉蚜、烟粉虱和盲蝽及自然天敌龟纹瓢虫、草间小黑蛛种群数量无显著影响,草蛉种群数量在转基因棉田低于非转基因棉田;喷施化学农药对棉铃虫幼虫和棉蚜的防治作用较好,对烟粉虱和盲蝽的防治效果年度间和试验点间有差异,对龟纹瓢虫的杀伤力较大,对草间小黑蛛和草蛉未见明显影响。【结论】盐碱旱地对棉田不同的害虫和天敌影响不同,且转基因棉田与非转基因棉田昆虫群落结构与对照棉田无显著差异。     

In vitro assay for 2,4-D resistance in transgenic cotton

Summary 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) resistant plants of transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) were produced using Agrobacterium tumefaciens containing a plasmid carrying the neomycin phosphotransferase II (npt II) and 2,4-D monooxygenase (tfd A) genes. An in vitro assay was performed to determine the sensitivity of seed germination, and the growth of seedlings of transgenic and non-transgenic cotton to various concentrations of kanamycin and 2,4-D. The results indicated that kanamycin caused the cotyledons of non-transgenic plants to turn white, but transgenic plants grew normally. Seed germination and seedling growth of non-transgenic plants were strongly inhibited by 2,4-D, but only slightly for transgenic plants. Transgenic plants and non-transgenic plants can be clearly distinguished by the use of 2 mg l⁻¹ 2,4-D in seed germination medium. There was a high correlation between the response of seed germination and the growth of seedlings to kanamycin or 2,4-D, based on the germination ration, albino ratio, dry weight or fresh weight. On this basis, we development a rapid method for identifying transgenic plants that has been verified in the field. These findings will allow identification of cotton transformants at an early stage of plant development, saving time and improving cultivars containing the 2,4-D resistance trait.     

RNAi-mediated male sterility of tobacco by silencing TA29

The superior performance of F₁ hybrids has a significant impact on agricultural productivity. For commercial application, the availability of an efficient system for obtaining male-sterile lines of crops is an essential prerequisite. Here we have investigated the use of RNA interference (RNAi) technology to silence a male-specific gene in the model host tobacco. TA29 is expressed exclusively in anthers at the time of microspore development. About 10 out of 13 tobacco lines transformed with a hairpin RNAi construct containing TA29 sequences were male sterile. Transgenic plants were phenotypically indistinguishable from non-transgenic plants. At the anthesis stage, pollen grains from transgenic, male-sterile plants were aborted and lysed in comparison to the round and fully developed pollen in non-transgenic plants. Microscopic analysis of anthers showed selective degradation of tapetum in transgenic plants with no microspore development. One week after self-pollination, the ovules of non-transgenic plants were double the size of those in transgenic plants, due to successful self-fertilization. Male sterile transgenic plants set seed normally, when cross-pollinated with pollen from non-transgenic plants, confirming no adverse effect on the female parts of the flower. These results show that silencing of male-specific genes by RNAi is potentially a useful tool for generating male-sterile lines for producing hybrid seed.     

转RRM2基因棉和其亲本苗蚜种群数量及其优势天敌的动态规律

【目的】转基因作物的大规模种植,可能会对人类健康和生态环境造成影响。因此,商业化种植之前,评价环境安全性十分必要。【方法】以转基因(RRM2)高产棉为实验品种,受体材料中棉所12为对照品种,分别于2013年和2014年连续2年对2种棉田的苗期蚜虫及其几种主要捕食性天敌的田间种群数量进行系统的田间调查,并比较它们在这2种不同棉田间的差异。【结果】与中12相比,转RRM2基因棉苗期无翅蚜的发生数量显著增加,有翅蚜迁入棉田的数量也有所增加,但二者差异不显著;2个棉花品系间棉蚜的几种主要捕食性天敌发生数量也无明显差异。【结论】与亲本材料相比,转高产棉花苗蚜数量显著增加,但其捕食性天敌数量增加不明显。本研究为转RRM2高产基因棉花环境安全评价技术的完善提供了理论依据。     

Increased glycine betaine synthesis and salinity tolerance in AhCMO transgenic cotton lines

Glycine betaine is an osmoprotectant that plays an important role and accumulates rapidly in many plants during salinity or drought stress. Choline monooxygenase (CMO) is a major catalyst in the synthesis of glycine betaine. In our previous study, a CMO gene (AhCMO) cloned from Atriplex hortensis was introduced into cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) via Agrobacterium mediation to enhance resistance to salinity stress. However, there is little or no knowledge of the salinity tolerance of the transgenic plants, particularly under saline-field conditions. In the present study, two transgenic AhCMO cotton lines of the T₃ generation were used to study the AhCMO gene expression, and to determine their salinity tolerance in both greenhouse and field under salinity stress. Molecular analysis confirmed that the transgenic plants expressed the AhCMO gene. Greenhouse study showed that on average, seedlings of the transgenic lines accumulated 26 and 131% more glycine betaine than those of non-transgenic plants (SM3) under normal and salt-stress (150 mmol l⁻¹ NaCl) conditions, respectively. The osmotic potential, electrolyte leakage and malondialdehyde (MDA) accumulation were significantly lower in leaves of the transgenic lines than in those of SM3 after salt stress. The net photosynthesis rate and Fv/Fm in transgenic cotton leaves were less affected by salinity than in non-transgenic cotton leaves. Therefore, transgenic cotton over-expressing AhCMO was more tolerant to salt stress due to elevated accumulation of glycine betaine, which provided greater protection of the cell membrane and photosynthetic capacity than in non-transgenic cotton. The seed cotton yield of the transgenic plants was lower under normal conditions, but was significantly higher than that of non-transgenic plants under salt-stressed field conditions. The results indicate that over-expression of AhCMO in cotton enhanced salt stress tolerance, which is of great value in cotton production in the saline fields.     

转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花主要生化物质含量变化及其对棉田昆虫的影响

【目的】新型转基因棉花在进入大规模商业化应用前,需对其生态环境安全性进行评价;同时,经基因改造的新型转基因抗虫棉花可能影响抗虫棉的次生代谢,进而导致一些综合的生态学效应,致使棉花生理上发生改变,这也是转基因植物安全性评价研究的重要内容。【方法】比较了不同关键时期新型转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花与转Cry1Ac基因棉花和非转基因棉花叶片的鲜重、干重和干鲜比、主要酶[超氧化物歧化酶(SOD)、过氧化氢酶(CAT)、过氧化物酶(POD)、抗坏血酸过氧化物酶(APX)和谷胱甘肽还原酶(GR)]活性、营养物质(蛋白质、氨态氮、脯氨酸和可溶性糖)和次生代谢产物(棉酚和单宁)含量的差异及其对棉田不同昆虫营养层昆虫个体总数和物种数的影响。【结果】棉花生长的蕾期、花期和花铃期,转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花、转Cry1Ac基因棉花和非转基因棉花叶片的鲜重、干重和干鲜比呈先升高后降低的趋势;SOD和POD活性在花铃期明显升高,CAT、APX和GR活性无显著变化;蛋白质、氨态氮含量无明显变化,脯氨酸和可溶性糖含量均表现为先升高后下降的趋势;棉酚含量在3个时期无显著变化,而单宁含量呈逐渐升高的趋势。3种棉花叶片中干物质积累、主要酶活性、营养物质和次生代谢产物含量均无显著差异;单株大铃数表现为转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花转Cry1Ac基因棉花非转基因棉花,小铃数则表现为转Cry1Ac基因棉花Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花非转基因棉花;昆虫群落和害虫亚群落的昆虫个体总数均表现为转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉田转Cry1Ac基因棉田非转基因棉田,天敌亚群落昆虫个体总数无显著变化;3种棉田中昆虫群落、害虫亚群落和天敌亚群落的物种数均未发生显著变化。【结论】转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花叶片干物质积累、产量性状、生化物质含量、酶活性在不同生长期表现不同,但上述参数在3种棉花之间无显著差异;且转Cry1Ac+Cry2Ab基因棉花具有较好的抗虫性,能有效降低棉田害虫数量。     

Bt抗虫棉秸秆还田对土壤养分特征的影响

【目的】研究转基因作物秸秆或残茬还田可能对土壤养分特性造成的影响。【方法】以不同抗虫水平Bt棉花和常规棉花(泗棉3号)为研究材料,分别在经过一、二个生长周期后将秸秆机械粉碎后原位还田,40 d后测定分析土壤中Bt蛋白含量及肥力相关的养分含量变化。【结果】Bt棉秸秆还田后,所有品种棉花土壤中Bt蛋白含量与还田前无显著增加,且转Bt基因棉与非转基因棉还田对土壤Bt蛋白含量的影响并无显著差异。同时,棉秸秆还田可显著提高土壤有机质、速效磷、碱解氮、速效钾、全氮、全磷和全钾含量,提升土壤pH值;增加幅度在不同抗虫水平Bt棉花间及与非转基因常规棉花品种间皆无显著性差异。【结论】秸秆还田对土壤肥力的提升与Bt棉的抗虫水平无关。“转Bt基因”不成为Bt棉秸秆还田提高土壤肥力的限制性因素,其秸秆还田不会对土壤肥力质量产生负面影响,可使土壤养分含量增加,有效提升土壤肥力。秸秆原位还田简单、无害又提升肥力,有条件作为转Bt基因植物秸秆无害化处理的理想方式。     

Pollination disruption by European honeybees in the Australian bird-pollinated shrubGrevillea barklyana (Proteaceae)

European honeybees (Apis mellifera) were less efficient pollinators ofGrevillea barklyana than nectar-feeding birds. Nectar-collecting honeybees did not contact reproductive parts of flowers. Pollen-collecting honeybees preferentially visited malestage flowers but rarely visited female-stage flowers. Fruit set on caged inflorescences that allowed access to honeybees but excluded birds was reduced by more than 50% compared to inflorescences that were visited by both types of visitors. Further, fruit set on caged inflorescences was less than on bagged inflorescences that excluded both birds and honeybees, indicating that pollen removal by bees decreased opportunities for delayed autonomous selfing in the absence of birds. Although fruit set was not pollen-limited at the study site, pollen removal by honeybees would decrease fruit set in small populations where birds are scarce. In addition, pollen removal by honeybees would reduce opportunities for outcrossing and reproductive success through male function. Although honeybees have been in Australia for insufficient time to have exerted selection on floral traits, evolutionary shifts in response to these animals are likely to occur in the future.     

Intra‐floral resource partitioning between endemic and invasive flower visitors: consequences for pollinator effectiveness

1. Sympatric flower visitor species often partition nectar and pollen and thus affect each other's foraging pattern. Consequently, their pollination service may also be influenced by the presence of other flower visiting species. Ants are solely interested in nectar and frequent flower visitors of some plant species but usually provide no pollination service. Obligate flower visitors such as bees depend on both nectar and pollen and are often more effective pollinators. 2. In Hawaii, we studied the complex interactions between flowers of the endemic tree Metrosideros polymorpha (Myrtaceae) and both, endemic and introduced flower‐visiting insects. The former main‐pollinators of M. polymorpha were birds, which, however, became rare. We evaluated the pollinator effectiveness of endemic and invasive bees and whether it is affected by the type of resource collected and the presence of ants on flowers. 3. Ants were dominant nectar‐consumers that mostly depleted the nectar of visited inflorescences. Accordingly, the visitation frequency, duration, and consequently the pollinator effectiveness of nectar‐foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera) strongly decreased on ant‐visited flowers, whereas pollen‐collecting bees remained largely unaffected by ants. Overall, endemic bees (Hylaeus spp.) were ineffective pollinators. 4. The average net effect of ants on pollination of M. polymorpha was neutral, corresponding to a similar fruit set of ant‐visited and ant‐free inflorescences. 5. Our results suggest that invasive social hymenopterans that often have negative impacts on the Hawaiian flora and fauna may occasionally provide neutral (ants) or even beneficial net effects (honeybees), especially in the absence of native birds.     

Effects of pollen-synthesized green fluorescent protein on pollen grain fitness

Genetically engineered pollen with a visible marker gene could be useful to monitor the movement of transgenic pollen provided there are no negative physiological or fitness effects of expressing such a gene. In this study, we measured the fitness of Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi pollen expressing the marker gene green fluorescent protein (GFP). Average pollen tube germination frequencies and pollen tube growth rates in vitro were measured in three different types of plants: (1) plants producing GFP in pollen cells only (LAT59-GFP), (2) plants synthesizing GFP under the control of a constitutive promoter (CaMV 35S) in which no GFP was produced in pollen, and (3) non-transgenic plants. Pollen synthesizing the GFP protein did not differ significantly in average pollen germination frequencies from pollen without GFP (P=0.65). Average pollen tube growth rates over a 5-h period did not differ significantly between transgenic and non-transgenic types (R²=0.89, 0.98, and 0.95, respectively, for GFP-tagged, 35S-GFP, and wild type). Overall, GFP expression in pollen grains of tobacco was not found to have an effect on pollen fitness under the controlled experimental conditions of this study.     

Do exotic bumblebees and honeybees compete with native flower-visiting insects in Tasmania?

Honeybees, Apis mellifera, have been introduced by man throughout the globe. More recently, other bee species including various bumblebees (Bombus spp.) have been introduced to several new regions. Here we examine the impacts of honeybees and the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris, on native flower-visiting insects in Tasmania. To assess whether native insects have lower abundance or are excluded in areas that have been colonised by exotic bees, we quantified the abundance, diversity and floral preferences of flower-visiting insects at sites where bumblebees and honeybees were present, and compared them to sites where they were absent. This was achieved by hand searches at 67 sites, and by deploying sticky traps at 122 sites. Honeybees were by far the most abundant bee species overall, and dominated the bee fauna at most sites. There was considerable niche overlap between honeybees, bumblebees and native bees in terms of the flowers that they visited. Sites where bumblebees were established had similar species richness, diversity and abundance of native flower-visiting insects compared to sites where bumblebees were absent. In contrast, native bees were more than three times more abundant at the few sites where honeybees were absent, compared to those where they were present. Our results are suggestive of competition between honeybees and native bees, but exclusion experiments are needed to provide a definitive test.     

Pollen morphology and its effect on pollenl collection by honey bees,Apis Mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae), with special Reference to Upland Cotton,Gossypium Hirsutum L. (Malvaceae)

Honey bees, Apis mellifera, forage readily on flowers of upland cotton, Gossypium hirsutum, to harvest nectar. The abundant pollen gets caught in the haircoat of the bees, but cotton pollen is nevertheless rarely collected. Honey bee pollen collection effectiveness was therefore investigated in a flight room using cotton and five other spheroidal pollen taxa presented in sequence. Honey bees visited all pollen dishes, but okra pollen (Abelmoschus esculentus) was never packed successfully by the bees landing in the pollen dish. Cotton pollen was collected by 16% of the landing foragers, pumpkin pollen (Cucurbita pepo) by 71%, and pollen of corn (Zea mays), pigweed (Amaranthus palmeri), and sunflower (Helianthus annuus) were readily collected by nearly all foragers. The amount of time spent in the pollen dish was always short (1 to 9 seconds) and homogeneous among all pollen taxa, indicating that none of them was strongly repellent to the bees. The reduced effectiveness with which honey bees collected cotton pollen was demonstrated by the longer amount of time needed for pollen grooming and packing between two consecutive landings in the pollen dish and the small size of cotton pollen pellets (averages of 0.42 mg and 8.23 mg per pellet for cotton and corn pollen, respectively). This reduced efficiency in cotton pollen collection was associated primarily with the length of the spines on cotton pollen which physically interfered with the pollen aggregating process used by honey bees.     

Impact of introduced honeybees, Apis mellifera, upon native bee communities in the Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands

The Bonin (Ogasawara) Islands are oceanic islands located in the northwest Pacific, and have ten native (nine endemic) bee species, all of which are nonsocial. The European honeybee (Apis mellifera), which was introduced to the islands for apiculture in the 1880s, became naturalized in a few islands shortly after introduction. To detect the impact of the honeybees upon native bee diversity, we analyzed pollen harvest by honeybees and surveyed the relative abundance of honeybees and native bees on flowers on several islands. Both hived and feral honeybee colonies were active throughout the year, harvesting pollen of both native and alien flowers and from both entomophilous and anemophilous flowers. Honeybees strongly depended on the alien plants, especially during winter to spring when native melittophilous flowers were rare. From June to November, honeybees exhaustively utilized native flowers, which had originally been utilized and pollinated by native bees. On Chichi and Haha Islands, where human disturbance of forests has been severe, both native and alien flowers were dominated by honeybees, and native bees were rare or extinct even in well-conserved forests. In contrast, on Ani Island and Haha's satellite islands where primary forests were well conserved and honeybees were still uncommon or absent, native bees remained dominant. These results suggest that competition for nectar and pollen of the native flowers between honeybees and native bees favors honeybees on the disturbed islands, which are thoroughly invaded by alien nectariferous, sometimes aggressive, weedy plants. Received: May 8, 1998 / Accepted: May 6, 1999     

The effect of root exudates from two transgenic insect-resistant cotton lines on the growth of Fusarium oxysporum

The attenuation of disease resistance in transgenic insect-resistant cotton has become one of the important factors restricting cotton production in China. Two transgenic insect-resistant cotton lines and their parental conventional cotton lines were used as the testing materials. The effects of root exudates of these cotton lines on the spore germination and mycelial growth of Fusarium oxysporum were studied and the components, contents of amino acids and sugars were determined. The results showed that the resistance of the two insect-resistant cotton lines to F. oxysporum was inferior to the parental lines, and that their root exudates promoted fungal spore germination and mycelial growth. Considerable differences in the components and contents of both, amino acids and sugars were found between the root exudates of transgenic cotton lines and their parental lines, where the disease indices were highly correlated with the total amount of sugars in the root exudates.     

Measuring gene flow in the cultivation of transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.)

Transgenic Bt cotton NewCott 33B and transgenic tfd A cotton TFD were chosen to evaluate pollen dispersal frequency and distance of transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in the Huanghe Valley Cotton-producing Zone, China. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of biosafety procedures used to reduce pollen movement. A field test plot of transgenic cotton (6×6 m) was planted in the middle of a nontransgenic field measuring 210×210 m. The results indicated that the pollen of Bt cotton or tfd A cotton could be dispersed into the environment. Out-crossing was highest within the central test plot where progeny from nontransgenic plants, immediately adjacent to transgenic plants, had resistant plant progeny at frequencies up to 10.48%. Dispersal frequency decreased significantly and exponentially as dispersal distance increased. The flow frequency and distance of tfd A and Bt genes were similar, but the pollen-mediated gene flow of tfd A cotton was higher and further to the transgenic block than that of Bt cotton (χ² = 11.712, 1 degree of freedom, p<0.001). For the tfd A gene, out-crossing ranged from 10.13% at 1 m to 0.04% at 50 m from the transgenic plants. For the Bt gene, out-crossing ranged from 8.16% at 1 m to 0.08% at 20 m from the transgenic plants. These data were fit to a power curve model: y=10.1321x ^−1.4133 with a correlation coefficient of 0.999, and y=8.0031x ^−1.483 with a correlation coefficient of 0.998, respectively. In this experiment, the farthest distance of pollen dispersal from transgenic cotton was 50 m. These results indicate that a 60-m buffer zone would serve to limit dispersal of transgenic pollen from small-scale field tests.     

Single leaves photosynthetic characteristics of two insect-resistant transgenic cotton (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Gossypium hirsutum</Emphasis> L.) varieties in response to light

How the photosynthetic characteristics of insect-resistant transgenic cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) respond to light or whether this genetic transformation could result in unintended effects on their photosynthetic and physiological processes is not well known. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the shapes of net photosynthetic rate (P _N), stomatal conductance (g _s), apparent light use efficiency (LUE_app) and water use efficiency (WUE) light-response curves for single leaves of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) and Bt+CpTI (cowpea trypsin inhibitor) transgenic cotton plants and their non-transgenic counterparts, respectively. Results showed that the significant difference in response of P _N and WUE to light between transgenic cotton and non-transgenic cotton occured but not always throughout the growing season or in different experiments or for all transgenic cotton lines. It was highly dependent on growth stage, culture condition and variety, but no obvious difference between any transgenic cotton and non-transgenic cotton in the shapes of g _s and LUE_app light-response curves was observed in two experiments at different growth stages. In the field experiments, transgenic Bt+CpTI cotton was less sensitive to response of P _N to high irradiance at the boll-opening stage. In pot experiments, WUE light-response curves of both Bt transgenic cotton and Bt+CpTI transgenic cotton progressively decreased whereas non-transgenic cotton slowly reached a maximum at high irradiance at boll-opening stage. We supposed that culture environment could affect the photosynthesis of transgenic cotton both directly and indirectly through influencing either foreign genes expression or growth and physiological processes.     

An assessment of gene transfer by pollen from field-grown transgenic potatoes to non-transgenic potatoes and related species

Information on the extent of transgene dispersal by pollen to adjacent potato plots and to related weed species is an important requisite for risk assessment; a procedure followed before novel transgenic plants are evaluated under field conditions. The purpose of the investigation was to determine the frequency of cross-pollination between potato (Solanum tuberosum) plants at different distances, using a kanamycin resistnace transgene (nptII) as a selectable marker. All potato plants were from the variety Désirée. Non-transgenic potato plants, used as potential recipients of transgene-containing pollen, were planted in 12 sub-plots, at distances of 0–20 m from the nearest transgenic potato plants. Seeds harvested from the non-transgenic plants were screened for resistance to kanamycin, and molecular methods were used to confirm that resistant progeny contained thenptII gene. Where transgenic and non-transgenic potato plants were in alternate rows (leaves touching), 24% of seedlings from the non-transgenic parent plants were kanamycin-resistant. Comparable seedlings from plants at up to 3 m distance had a resistance frequency of 2%, at 10 m the frequency was 0.017% and at 20 m no resistant progeny were observed. Plants of the weed speciesS. dulcamara andS. nigrum were also planted close to the transgenic potatoes to test for evidence of hybridization, and no kanamycin-resistant seedlings were observed among progeny fromS. dulcamara andS. nigrum. This investigation provided evidence that the extent of gene dispersal from transgenic potatoes to non-transgenic potatoes falls markedly with increasing distance, and is negligible at 10 m. There was, also, no evidence of transgene movement from potato toS. dulcamara andS. nigrum under field conditions. These data will be valuable in defining genetic isolation procedures for the early field evaluation and the use of novel transgenic potato genotypes.     

Field evaluation of effects of transgenic <Emphasis Type="Italic">cry1Ab/cry1Ac,cry1C</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">cry2A</Emphasis> rice on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cnaphalocrocis medinalis</Emphasis> and its arthropod predators

The impacts of transgenic Bt rice on target pests and their predators need to be clarified prior to the commercialization of Bt rice. In this study, the percentages of folded leaves of three transgenic Bt rice lines and non-transgenic parental rice line caused by Cnaphalocrocis medinalis were studied over two successive growing seasons. In addition, the population densities, relative abundance and population dynamics of C. medinalis and four species of its natural arthropod predators were investigated at three sites in China. The results showed that rice line significantly affected the percentages of folded leaves and population densities of C. medinalis larvae. Significantly higher percentages of folded leaves were observed on the non-transgenic rice compared with the three transgenic Bt rice on most sampling dates. Significantly higher densities of C. medinalis larvae and higher relative abundance of C. medinalis within phytophages were found on non-transgenic rice compared with three transgenic Bt rice at different sites across the study period. The population dynamics of C. medinalis larvae were significantly affected by rice line, rice line×sampling date, rice line×year, rice line×sampling date×year. However, there was little, if any, significant difference in the relative abundance, population density and population dynamics of the four arthropod predators between the three Bt rice lines and non-transgenic rice. The results of this study indicate that the Bt toxin in transgenic Bt rice can effectively suppress the occurrence of C. medinalis, but has no significant effects on the occurrence of the four predatory arthropod species.