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The Probability of a Horizontal Gene Transfer from Roundup Ready® Soybean to Root Symbiotic Bacteria: A Risk Assessment Study on the GSF Lysimeter Station

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Water, Air, & Soil Pollution: Focus

Abstract

The gene transfer from glyphosate tolerant soybean to Bradyrhizobium japonicum was evaluated in a free-air lysimeter experiment under natural conditions and increasing selection pressure, to monitor for the probability of horizontal gene transfer (HGT). A large volume lysimeter study that offers conditions comparable to normal farming was conducted in 2004 and 2005 with Roundup Ready® (RR) soybean and Roundup® application according to agricultural practice. Analysis of nodules showed, as expected, the presence of the transgenic 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS). However, in bacteroids that were isolated from nodules and then cultivated for several rounds in the presence of high levels of glyphosate, the EPSPS gene could no longer be detected. This indicates no stable HGT transfer of the whole EPSPS gene under field conditions.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank Silvia Fernandez (Monsanto) for critically reading the manuscript. Soybean seeds were kindly provided by Monsanto Europe.

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Author notes

  1. T. Wagner

    Present address: Eurofins Medigenomix GmbH, Fraunhoferstr. 22, 82152, Planegg, Germany

  2. H. Sandermann

    Present address: Ecotox.freiburg, Schubertstr. 1, 79104, Freiburg, Germany

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biochemical Plant Pathology, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    T. Wagner, L. M. Arango Isaza, H. Sandermann & D. Ernst

  2. Institute of Soil Ecology, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    S. Grundmann, U. Dörfler, R. Schroll & M. Schloter

  3. Department Microbe-Plant-Interaction, GSF-National Research Center for Environment and Health, 85764, Neuherberg, Germany

    A. Hartmann

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  1. T. Wagner
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  2. L. M. Arango Isaza
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Correspondence to D. Ernst.

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Wagner, T., Arango Isaza, L.M., Grundmann, S. et al. The Probability of a Horizontal Gene Transfer from Roundup Ready® Soybean to Root Symbiotic Bacteria: A Risk Assessment Study on the GSF Lysimeter Station. Water Air Soil Pollut: Focus 8, 155–162 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-007-9168-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11267-007-9168-0

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