Effects of purified or plant-produced Cry proteins on Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae) larvae
Open accessAbstract
Although genetically engineered crops producing insecticidal Cry proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) are grown worldwide, few studies cover effects of Bt crops or Cry proteins on dipteran species in an agricultural context. We tested the toxicity of six purified Cry proteins and of Bt cotton and Bt maize tissue on Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae) as a surrogate for decomposing Diptera. ELISA confirmed the presence of Cry proteins in plant material, artificial diet, and fly larvae, and concentrations were estimated. Median concentrations in emerging adult flies were below the limit of detection. Bioactivity of purified Cry proteins in the diet was confirmed by sensitive species assays using Heliothis virescens (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Purified Cry1Ab, Cry1Ac, Cry1B, Cry1C, Cry1F, or Cry2Aa, or leaf material from stacked Bt cotton (Bollgard II producing Cry1Ac and Cry2Ab) or Bt maize (SmartStax producing Cry1A.105, Cry1Fa2, Cry2Ab2, Cry3Bb1, Cry34Ab1 and Cry35Ab1) had no consistent effects on D. melanogaster survival, developmental time, adult body mass or morphometrics. However, D. melanogaster showed longer developmental time and smaller wing size when fed with cotton leaves from plants infested with H. virescens caterpillars compared to flies fed with leaves from uninfested plants, while no such effects were obvious for maize.
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Pyramided insecticidal proteins typically act additively in sensitive species and cause no unexpected effects in species not sensitive to individual toxins.
“The available data indicate that these pyramided insecticidal proteins typically act additively in sensitive species and cause no unexpected effects in species that are not sensitive to the individual toxins (Graser et al., 2017;Guo et al., 2016;Haller et al. 2017;Kumar et al., 2014;Levine et al., 2016;Raybould et al., 2012;Shu et al., 2018;Su et al., 2015;Svobodová et al., 2017;Tian et al., 2014T”
From Genetically engineered crops help support conservation biological control (2019) · cites this paper as Haller et al. 2017
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- Authors
- Haller, S., Romeis, J., & Meissle, M.
- Affiliations
- Agroscope (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Meissle, Michael
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2017-09-11
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 11172-11172
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5593937
- OpenAlex
- W2752080179
- Cited by
- 11
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 1.01
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Universität Basel
- European Food Safety Authority
- Agroscope
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Insect Resistance and Genetics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Genetically Modified Organisms Research
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Insect Science › Insect-Plant Interactions and Control
- Keywords
- Cry proteins, Bacillus thuringiensis, Bt cotton, Bt maize, Drosophila melanogaster, non-target effects, insecticidal proteins, Heliothis virescens, larval development, wing size, development time, plant-insect interactions, Bollgard II, genetically modified crops
- MeSH terms
- Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins, Animals, Bacterial Proteins, Biological Assay, Zea mays, Gossypium, Drosophila melanogaster, Endotoxins, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Hemolysin Proteins, Larva, Lepidoptera, Survival Analysis, Plants, Genetically Modified
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