Dataset Information

The food and environmental safety of Bt crops.

ABSTRACT: Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) microbial pesticides have a 50-year history of safety in agriculture. Cry proteins are among the active insecticidal ingredients in these pesticides, and genes coding for Cry proteins have been introduced into agricultural crops using modern biotechnology. The Cry gene sequences are often modified to enable effective expression in planta and several Cry proteins have been modified to increase biological activity against the target pest(s). Additionally, the domains of different but structurally conserved Cry proteins can be combined to produce chimeric proteins with enhanced insecticidal properties. Environmental studies are performed and include invertebrates, mammals, and avian species. Mammalian studies used to support the food and feed safety assessment are also used to support the wild mammal assessment. In addition to the NTO assessment, the environmental assessment includes a comparative assessment between the Bt crop and the appropriate conventional control that is genetically similar but lacks the introduced trait to address unintended effects. Specific phenotypic, agronomic, and ecological characteristics are measured in the Bt crop and the conventional control to evaluate whether the introduction of the insect resistance has resulted in any changes that might cause ecological harm in terms of altered weed characteristics, susceptibility to pests, or adverse environmental impact. Additionally, environmental interaction data are collected in field experiments for Bt crop to evaluate potential adverse effects. Further to the agronomic and phenotypic evaluation, potential movement of transgenes from a genetically modified crop plants into wild relatives is assessed for a new pest resistance gene in a new crop. This review summarizes the evidence for safety of crops containing Cry proteins for humans, livestock, and other non-target organisms.

SUBMITTER: Koch MS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4413729 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The food and environmental safety of Bt crops.

Koch Michael S MS Ward Jason M JM Levine Steven L SL Baum James A JA Vicini John L JL Hammond Bruce G BG

Frontiers in plant science 20150429

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) microbial pesticides have a 50-year history of safety in agriculture. Cry proteins are among the active insecticidal ingredients in these pesticides, and genes coding for Cry proteins have been introduced into agricultural crops using modern biotechnology. The Cry gene sequences are often modified to enable effective expression in planta and several Cry proteins have been modified to increase biological activity against the target pest(s). Additionally, the domains of ...[more]

PMID: 25972882

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Project description:An increasing global population demands a continuous supply of nutritious and safe food. Edible products can be contaminated with biological (e.g., bacteria, virus, protozoa), chemical (e.g., heavy metals, mycotoxins), and physical hazards during production, storage, transport, processing, and/or meal preparation. The substantial impact of foodborne disease outbreaks on public health and the economy has led to multidisciplinary research aimed to understand the biology underlying the different contamination processes and how to mitigate food hazards. Here we review the knowledge, opportunities, and challenges of plant breeding as a tool to enhance the food safety of plant-based food products. First, we discuss the significant effect of plant genotypic and phenotypic variation in the contamination of plants by heavy metals, mycotoxin-producing fungi, and human pathogenic bacteria. In addition, we discuss the various factors (i.e., temperature, relative humidity, soil, microbiota, cultural practices, and plant developmental stage) that can influence the interaction between plant genetic diversity and contaminant. This exposes the necessity of a multidisciplinary approach to understand plant genotype × environment × microbe × management interactions. Moreover, we show that the numerous possibilities of crop/hazard combinations make the definition and identification of high-risk pairs, such as Salmonella-tomato and Escherichia coli-lettuce, imperative for breeding programs geared toward improving microbial safety of produce. Finally, we discuss research on developing effective assays and approaches for selecting desirable breeding germplasm. Overall, it is recognized that although breeding programs for some human pathogen/toxin systems are ongoing (e.g., Fusarium in wheat), it would be premature to start breeding when targets and testing systems are not well defined. Nevertheless, current research is paving the way toward this goal and this review highlights advances in the field and critical points for the success of this initiative that were discussed during the Breeding Crops for Enhanced Food Safety workshop held 5-6 June 2019 at University of California, Davis.

Dataset Information

The food and environmental safety of Bt crops.

Publications

The food and environmental safety of Bt crops.

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