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The presence of Bt-transgenic oilseed rape in wild mustard populations affects plant growth

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Abstract

The adventitious presence of transgenic plants in wild plant populations is of ecological and regulatory concern, but the consequences of adventitious presence are not well understood. Here, we introduced Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac (Bt)-transgenic oilseed rape (Bt OSR, Brassica napus) with various frequencies into wild mustard (Brassica juncea) populations. We sought to better understand the adventitious presence of this transgenic insecticidal crop in a wild-relative plant population. We assessed the factors of competition, resource availability and diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella) infestation on plant population dynamics. As expected, Bt OSR performed better than wild mustard in mixed populations under herbivore attack in habitats with enough resources, whereas wild mustard had higher fitness when Bt OSR was rarer in habitats with limited resources. Results suggest that the presence of insect-resistant transgenic plants could decrease the growth of wild mustard and Bt OSR plants and their populations, especially under high herbivore pressure.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant 31200288), the National Environmental Protection Public Welfare Science and Technology Research Program of China (Grant 201309038) and one Project of the State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, CRAES. The work was enabled by an earlier USDA Biotechnology Risk Assessment grant to CNS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, 8 Dayangfang, Beijing, 100012, China

    Yongbo Liu, Junsheng Li, Hai Huang & Xitao Zhang

  2. Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, 2431 Joe Johnson Drive, Knoxville, TN, 37996-4561, USA

    C. Neal Stewart Jr.

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  1. Yongbo Liu
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  2. C. Neal Stewart Jr.
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  3. Junsheng Li
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  4. Hai Huang
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  5. Xitao Zhang
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Correspondence to Yongbo Liu.

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Liu, Y., Stewart, C.N., Li, J. et al. The presence of Bt-transgenic oilseed rape in wild mustard populations affects plant growth. Transgenic Res 24, 1043–1053 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-015-9903-7

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