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Bt Crops Producing Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab and Cry1F Do Not Harm the Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris
PLoS ONE
  • Jun-Ce Tian, Cornell University
  • Xiang-Ping Wang, Cornell University
  • Li-Ping Long, Cornell University
  • Jörg Romeis, Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART
  • Steven E. Naranjo, United States Department of Agriculture
  • Richard L. Hellmich, Iowa State University
  • Ping Wang, Cornell University
  • Elizabeth D. Earle, Cornell University
  • Anthony M. Shelton, Cornell University
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
3-27-2013
DOI
10.1371/journal.pone.0060125
Abstract

The biological control function provided by natural enemies is regarded as a protection goal that should not be harmed by the application of any new pest management tool. Plants producing Cry proteins from the bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), have become a major tactic for controlling pest Lepidoptera on cotton and maize and risk assessment studies are needed to ensure they do not harm important natural enemies. However, using Cry protein susceptible hosts as prey often compromises such studies. To avoid this problem we utilized pest Lepidoptera, cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni) and fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), that were resistant to Cry1Ac produced in Bt broccoli (T. ni), Cry1Ac/Cry2Ab produced in Bt cotton (T. ni), and Cry1F produced in Bt maize (S. frugiperda). Larvae of these species were fed Bt plants or non-Bt plants and then exposed to predaceous larvae of the green lacewingChrysoperla rufilabris. Fitness parameters (larval survival, development time, fecundity and egg hatch) of C. rufilabris were assessed over two generations. There were no differences in any of the fitness parameters regardless if C. rufilabris consumed prey (T. ni or S. frugiperda) that had consumed Bt or non-Bt plants. Additional studies confirmed that the prey contained bioactive Cry proteins when they were consumed by the predator. These studies confirm that Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab and Cry1F do not pose a hazard to the important predator C. rufilabris. This study also demonstrates the power of using resistant hosts when assessing the risk of genetically modified plants on non-target organisms.

Comments

This article is from PLoS ONE 8 (2013): e60125, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0060125.

Rights
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Jun-Ce Tian, Xiang-Ping Wang, Li-Ping Long, Jörg Romeis, et al.. "Bt Crops Producing Cry1Ac, Cry2Ab and Cry1F Do Not Harm the Green Lacewing, Chrysoperla rufilabris" PLoS ONE Vol. 8 Iss. 3 (2013) p. e60125
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/richard_hellmich/53/