1. Study on Ecological safety evaluation of transgenic rice

The ecological effects of insect-resistant transgenic rice were studied on the basis of the safety evaluation of transgenic plants such as color-changing transgenic carnations, herbicide-tolerant transgenic maize, herbicide-tolerant transgenic soybeans and so on. This study documents one of the first efforts to identify and validate Bt rice-associated changes in soil microbiomes, soil metabolomes, and root exudate metabolomes using an integrated multi-omic framework. Bt rice planting can alter soil C-N metabolism by affecting root exudate compositions relative to non-Bt rice, in addition to further modulating rhizosphere microbiome assemblages during the growth stage when the highest Bt protein contents are released. Critically, the cultivation of Bt rice did not significantly change the abundance of potential probiotic or phytopathogenic taxa and did not reduce soil microbiome stability, suggesting the lack of adverse impacts on environmental agroecosystems by Bt rice. Collectively, the results from this study reveal the underlying response mechanisms of soil microbiomes and metabolomes to the cultivation of Bt plants and extend our insights into environmental risk assessments of GM plants.

The results were published in ISME Communications, a sub-journal of Nature. Prof. Li Peng was the first author of the paper. Prof. Quan Zhexue of Fudan University and Dr. Wu Yunfei of Yangzhou University were the corresponding author. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Program and and SAAS Excellent Research Team Program.

2. Study on environmental behavior of Bt insecticidal protein

Bt is the most widely used, potential and promising insect-resistant gene in plant genetic engineering. Bt toxins exhibit highly specific insecticidal activities. Indeed, transgenic crops with insect resistance via Bt comprise the largest global fraction of agriculturally planted crop areas. The accumulation and persistence of Bt toxins in soils from Bt plants and Bt biopesticides may result in environmental hazards such as adverse impacts on soil microorganisms. In this study, a multi-omics framework was used to demonstrate that soil nutrients (NH4+-N, NO2-N, and SOM) and low molecular weight metabolites involved in the cycling of the above nutrients, in addition to associated microbial functional genes, significantly changed with increasing Bt toxin addition and time. Importantly, Bt toxin addition did not significantly alter the abundances of potential microbial phytopathogenic taxa and did not reduce soil microbiome diversity and stability, suggesting a lack of adverse impacts on microbial ecosystems. Collectively, the results from this study provide insights into the underlying response mechanisms of soil microbiomes and metabolomes to the addition of Bt toxins, thereby extending our framework for environmental risk assessments of Bt toxins.

Relevant research results were published in Journal of Hazardous Materials (IF: 14.224). Ge Lei and Dr. Song Lili of the Institute of Biology were the first authors, and Prof. Peng Li was the corresponding author of the article. The research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation, the “Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan”-Technical Standards of Shanghai and Technology and SAAS Excellent Research Team Program.

posted by Song Lili, Biotechnology Research Institute