Genetically Engineered Antifungal Wheat has no Detrimental Effects on the Key Soil Species Lumbricus terrestris

Abstract

Abstract:Since the first introduction of genetically engineered (GE) plants, one of the major concerns has been their potential effects on non-target organisms and ecosystem services. We focused in this study on the earthworm species Lumbricus terrestris as important ecosystem engineer and studied its performance when feeding on GE antifungal wheat. We compared litter consumption, weight change and mortality of individuals feeding on GE wheat with either specific resistance against powdery mildew (Blumeria graminis) or unspecific resistance against fungi via chitinase and glucanase expression with individuals feeding on non-GE wheat or other conventional crops. We did not find detrimental direct or indirect effects of GE wheat on L. terrestris and overall L. terrrestris tended to cope even better with GE wheat varieties. Concluding from our experiment the transgene products do not harm the soil key species L. terrestris and ecosystem services like decomposition, organic matter turnover and nutrient cycling are unlikely to be affected detrimentally.

Impact of Transgenic Wheat with wheat yellow mosaic virus Resistance on Microbial Community Diversity and Enzyme Activity in Rhizosphere Soil

“…These results indicated that transgenic crops containing a viral gene conferring resistance to viral disease had little effect on soil microbial diversity (excluding a small number of studies) compared with non-transgenic crops. Transgenic wheat also had no adverse effects on soil biological indicators, such as Folsomia candida [47] and earthworm [48]. Duc et al found that GM wheat with race-specific antifungal resistance against powdery mildew (Pm3b), and two with nonspecific antifungal resistance, had no impact on the soil fauna community (mites, springtails, annelids, and diptera).…”