Consumption of Bt rice pollen containing Cry1C or Cry2A does not pose a risk to Propylea japonica (Thunberg) (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae)

Abstract

As a pollen feeder, Propylea japonica would be directly exposed to Cry proteins in Bacillus thuringiensis ( Bt)-transgenic rice fields. The effect of Cry1C- or Cry2A-containing transgenic rice pollen on the fitness of P. japonica was assessed using two dietary-exposure experiments in the laboratory. In the first experiment, larval developmental time of P. japonica was significantly longer when fed pollen from Bt rice lines rather than control pollen but other life table parameters were not significantly affected. In the second experiment, P. japonica was not affected when fed a rapeseed pollen-based diet containing purified Cry1C or Cry2A at concentrations that were >10-times higher than in pollen, but P. japonica was affected when the diet contained E-64 as a positive control. In both experiments, the stability and bioactivity of the Cry proteins in the food sources and the uptake of the proteins by P. japonica were confirmed. The results show that P. japonica is not sensitive to Cry1C or Cry2A proteins; the effect observed in the first experiment was likely attributable to unknown differences in the nutritional composition of Bt rice pollen. Overall, the data indicate that the growing of Cry1C- or Cry2A-transgenic rice should pose a negligible risk to P. japonica.