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A new method for evaluating the effects of insecticidal proteins expressed by transgenic plants on ectoparasitoid of target pest

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Abstract

Transgenic Bt insect-resistant plants are highly resistant to Lepidoptera stockpile pest Indian meal moth, Plodia interpunctella Hübner (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), a storage pest. Habrobracon hebetor (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae), which is an ectoparasitic wasp of Indian meal moth, may be exposed to the Bt protein through the food chain. In the current study, high dose of Cry1C protein was injected into the hemolymph of P. interpunctella by microinjection, and the hemolymph was used as the carrier to deliver Bt protein to the H. hebetor. Using this method, we developed a new Tier-1 risk assessment system for ectoparasitoid, successfully avoided “host/prey quality-mediated effect,” and improve the accuracy of safety evaluation. Results showed that injected Cry1C was stable and bioactive in the hemolymph of P. interpunctella parasitized by H. hebetor, and high dose of Cry1C has no negative impacts on egg hatching rate, developmental duration from egg to adult, survival egg to adult, pupa weight, adults weight (male and female), adult longevity and reproduction, and activity of stress-related enzymes of H. hebetor. However, the hemolymph of P. interpunctella injected into Galanthus nivalis L. agglutinin (the positive control) had significant negative impact on these biological parameters of H. hebetor. The results indicate that H. hebetor are not sensitive to Cry1C protein at the tested concentration and there were no detrimental effects of Cry1C protein on any biological parameters tested in the present study. More importantly, we constructed a new efficient and simple system for the biosafety assessment on the larvae of ectoparasitoid of target pest.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Genetically Modified Organisms Breeding Major Project: Technology of Environmental Risk Assessment on Transgenic Rice (2016ZX08011001-002) and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2662015PY115).

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  1. Wenjun Wang and Wanlun Cai contributed equally as first authors

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Insect Resources Utilization and Sustainable Pest Management Key Laboratory, College of Plant Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, 430070, China

    Wenjun Wang, Wanlun Cai, Zhengjie Wang, Jing Zhao & Hongxia Hua

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  1. Wenjun Wang
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  2. Wanlun Cai
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Correspondence to Hongxia Hua.

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Wang, W., Cai, W., Wang, Z. et al. A new method for evaluating the effects of insecticidal proteins expressed by transgenic plants on ectoparasitoid of target pest. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 29983–29992 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08664-w

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