Effects of multiple Bt proteins and GNA lectin on in vitro-reared honey bee larvae

• Published in: Apidologie Vol. 43; no. 5; pp. 549 - 560
• Main Authors: Hendriksma, Harmen P, Härtel, Stephan, Babendreier, Dirk, von der Ohe, Werner, Steffan-Dewenter, Ingolf
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Paris Springer-Verlag 01-09-2012; EDP Sciences; Springer Verlag
• Subjects: adverse effects; agglutinins; Agricultural sciences; Agronomy. Soil science and plant productions; Animal biology; Animal production studies; Animal productions; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Apiculture; Applied ecology; arthropods; Bacillus thuringiensis; Biodiversity; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; biosafety; corn; Ecology, environment; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on protozoa and invertebrates; Entomology; exposure scenario; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Galanthus nivalis; Genetic engineering applications; Genetics and breeding of economic plants; herbicide resistance; honey bees; insect larvae; Insecta; Invertebrate Zoology; Invertebrates; lectins; lethal dose 50; Life Sciences; Original Article; pest control; Plant breeding: fundamental aspects and methodology; prepupae; rearing; Terrestrial animal productions; transgenic plants; variance; environmental risk assessment; genetically modified crops; Cry protein; Lectin; Toxicity; Insecta; Bacillus thuringiensis; Apidae; Bacillaceae; Apis mellifera; Bacillales; Apoidea; Bacteria; Transgenic plant; Biopesticide; Aculeata; Risk analysis; Experimental study; In vitro; Protein; Larva; Arthropoda; Colony; Hymenoptera; Invertebrata; Microbial insecticide
• DOI: 10.1007/s13592-012-0123-3
• EISSN: 1297-9678
• ISSN: 0044-8435

The honey bee is a key non-target arthropod in environmental risk assessments of genetically modified crops. We analyzed for the first time combined effects of three Bt proteins conferring insect resistances, and a CP4-protein conferring an herbicide resistance as simultaneously expressed in one GM maize. Furthermore, the biosafety of Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA lectin), a candidate protein for pest control was tested. Under worst-case exposure scenario, by using controlled in vitro larvae rearing, the combination of Bt proteins showed no adverse effects on bee larvae. In contrast, the GNA lectin was toxic at a 144 h LD50 of 16.3 μg/larva. The prepupal weight was found to differ between the larvae collection days and between the colonies used for the experiment, explaining up to five times more data variance than the protein treatments (N = 709 prepupae). In conclusion, neither single nor a mix of different Bt proteins were found harmful to honey bee larvae.