Toxins in transgenic crop byproducts may affect headwater stream ecosystems
Open accessAbstract
Corn (Zea mays L.) that has been genetically engineered to produce the Cry1Ab protein (Bt corn) is resistant to lepidopteran pests. Bt corn is widely planted in the midwestern United States, often adjacent to headwater streams. We show that corn byproducts, such as pollen and detritus, enter headwater streams and are subject to storage, consumption, and transport to downstream water bodies. Laboratory feeding trials showed that consumption of Bt corn byproducts reduced growth and increased mortality of nontarget stream insects. Stream insects are important prey for aquatic and riparian predators, and widespread planting of Bt crops has unexpected ecosystem-scale consequences.
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Pollen, plant debris, and exudates from living roots or decaying plant material might enter small streams close to agricultural fields, providing potential routes of exposure for aquatic organisms.
“Pollen, plant debris, and also exudates from living roots or exudes from decaying plant material might enter small streams that often run close to agricultural fields (Rosi-Marshall et al., 2007;Tank et al., 2010).”
From Genetically engineered crops help support conservation biological control (2019) · cites this paper as Rosi-Marshall et al., 2007
Insecticidal proteins similar to those from Bacillus thuringensis and Bacillus sphaericus have been expressed in plants and cyanobacteria and shown to be detrimental towards aquatic insects, aquatic larvae and daphnids.
“These proteins have already been expressed in plants and cyanobacteria, and shown to be detrimental towards aquatic insects, aquatic larvae and daphnids [73,83–85].”
From Biofuels from algae: Challenges and potential (2010) · cites this paper as [84]
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“that often run close to agricultural fields (Rosi-Marshall et al., 2007; Tank et al., 2010).”
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- Authors
- Rosi-Marshall, E. J., Tank, J. L., Royer, T. V., Whiles, M. R., Evans-White, M., Chambers, C., Griffiths, N. A., Pokelsek, J., & Stephen, M. L.
- Affiliations
- *Department of Biology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL 60626;
- University of Notre Dame (US)
- Indiana University Bloomington (US)
- Southern Illinois University Carbondale (US)
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556;
- Loyola University Chicago (US)
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2007-10-09
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- 41
- Pages
- 16204-16208
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC2042185
- OpenAlex
- W1976661160
- Cited by
- 254
- References
- 35
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 10 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 17 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 16 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 30
- FWCI
- 24.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0415984)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Genetically Modified Organisms Research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Freshwater macroinvertebrate diversity and ecology
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Insect Resistance and Genetics
- Keywords
- Bt maize, Cry1Ab toxin, corn pollen, headwater streams, stream food webs, agricultural runoff
- MeSH terms
- Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins, Animals, Bacterial Proteins, Bacterial Toxins, Zea mays, Endotoxins, Fresh Water, Hemolysin Proteins, Insecta, Lepidoptera, Plant Diseases, Pollen, Water Pollutants, Chemical, Ecosystem, Plants, Genetically Modified
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