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A 90-day subchronic feeding study of genetically modified rice expressing Cry1Ab protein in Sprague–Dawley rats

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Abstract

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenic rice line (mfb-MH86) expressing a synthetic cry1Ab gene can be protected against feeding damage from Lepidopteran insects, including Sesamia inferens, Chilo suppressalis, Tryporyza incertulas and Cnaphalocrocis medinalis. Rice flour from mfb-MH86 and its near-isogenic control MH86 was separately formulated into rodent diets at concentrations of 17.5, 35 and 70 % (w/w) for a 90-day feeding test with rats, and all of the diets were nutritionally balanced. In this study, the responses of rats fed diets containing mfb-MH86 were compared to those of rats fed flour from MH86. Overall health, body weight and food consumption were comparable between groups fed diets containing mfb-MH86 and MH86. Blood samples were collected prior to sacrifice and a few significant differences (p < 0.05) were observed in haematological and biochemical parameters between rats fed genetically modified (GM) and non-GM diets. However, the values of these parameters were within the normal ranges of values for rats of this age and sex, thus not considered treatment related. In addition, upon sacrifice a large number of organs were weighed, macroscopic and histopathological examinations were performed with only minor changes to report. In conclusion, these results demonstrated that no toxic effect was observed in the conditions of the experiment, based on the different parameters assessed. GM rice mfb-MH86 is as safe and nutritious as non-GM rice.

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Abbreviations

GM:

Genetically modified

Bt:

Bacillus thuringiensis

Cry:

Crystal

OECD:

Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development

SPF:

Specific pathogen free

ANOVA:

One-way analysis of variance

SD:

Standard deviation

GMOs:

Genetically modified organisms

EU:

European Union

EFSA:

The European Food Safety Authority

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Projects of P.R. China(2012ZX08011-003).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering, China Agricultural University, No. 17 Tsinghua Donglu, Beijing, 100083, China

    Huan Song, Xiaoyun He, Shiying Zou, Teng Zhang, Yunbo Luo, Kunlun Huang & Wentao Xu

  2. The Supervision, Inspection and Testing Center of Genetically Modified Organisms, Ministry of Agriculture, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xiaoyun He, Shiying Zou, Teng Zhang, Yunbo Luo, Kunlun Huang & Wentao Xu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Plant Genomics, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China

    Zhen Zhu

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  1. Huan Song
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  2. Xiaoyun He
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  3. Shiying Zou
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  4. Teng Zhang
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  5. Yunbo Luo
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  6. Kunlun Huang
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  7. Zhen Zhu
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  8. Wentao Xu
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Correspondence to Zhen Zhu or Wentao Xu.

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Huan Song and Xiaoyun He have contributed equally to this work.

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Song, H., He, X., Zou, S. et al. A 90-day subchronic feeding study of genetically modified rice expressing Cry1Ab protein in Sprague–Dawley rats. Transgenic Res 24, 295–308 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-014-9844-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-014-9844-6

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