High-throughput Sequencing-based Analysis of the Intestinal Microbiota of Broiler Chickens Fed Genetically Modified Rice Expressing Cry1Ac/Cry1Ab Chimeric <i>Bacillus thuringiensis</i> Protein

Abstract

Many types of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-crops are being grown worldwide, triggering concerns about their potential impact on humans and livestock. To ensure better yield and food safety in China, an attempt has been made to develop Bt-rice targeting a broad range of insects. We aimed to investigate whether feeding genetically modified rice expressing the Bt chimeric Cry1Ac/Cry1Ab protein has any effects on the intestinal microbiota of broilers. Broilers were fed either Bt-rice or its unmodified isogenic parent line for 42 days, and total DNA was isolated from cecum contents for high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. In total, 1,241,005 reads, assigned to 12 phyla, 31 families, and 48 genera were generated. No significant differences were observed in the relative abundance of organisms identified among the major phyla, families, and genera, except for two less abundant families, Thermoanaerobacteraceae and Peptostreptococcaceae, and two less abundant genera, Anaerotruncus and Gelria. The results were in agreement with those from culture-based analysis and Biolog EcoPlates. These results illustrate that feeding Bt-rice has no adverse effects on the broiler intestinal microbiota and provide sufficient support for the food safety of Bt-rice.

Effects of Feeding Genetically Modified Crops to Domestic Animals: A Review

“…Czerwinski et al, (2015a), Czerwinski et al, (2015b), Li et al, (2015) and Hameed et al, (2016) also found no negative effect of dietary supplementation of GM maize, rice, soybean meal and sugarcane on hematological, biochemical and histopathological parameters of broilers. Lili et al (2017), McNaughton et al (2014), Halle and Flachowsky (2014) and Sartowska et al (2015) did not observe any adverse effect of feeding transgenic maize, rice, soybean and canola meal on growth performance parameters, carcass traits, nutrient digestibility and intestinal microbiota of broilers, laying hens and quails. Kim (2019) conducted a study on two-day-old broilers for 32 days by using GM maize and soybean simultaneously.…”

“…In a series of experimental studies, transgenic soybean meal, maize, canola meal, and rice included separately or simultaneously in the diet did not adversely influence the health status, reproduction traits, and cellular immune response of broiler chickens, laying hens and quails (Korwin-Kossakowska et al, 2016;Sartowska et al, 2015;Halle and Flachowsky, 2014;Gao et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2016;Lili et al, 2017;McNaughton et al, 2014). All the studies are illustrated in Table 3a and 3b.…”