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High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests
Concerns about possible undesired environmental effects of transgenic crops have prompted numerous evaluations of such crops. So-called Bt crops receive particular attention because they carry bacteria-derived genes coding for insecticidal proteins that might negatively affect non-target arthropods....
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Public Library of Science
2007
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1899225/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17622345 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000600 |
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author | Faria, Cristina A. Wäckers, Felix L. Pritchard, Jeremy Barrett, David A. Turlings, Ted C.J. |
author_facet | Faria, Cristina A. Wäckers, Felix L. Pritchard, Jeremy Barrett, David A. Turlings, Ted C.J. |
author_sort | Faria, Cristina A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Concerns about possible undesired environmental effects of transgenic crops have prompted numerous evaluations of such crops. So-called Bt crops receive particular attention because they carry bacteria-derived genes coding for insecticidal proteins that might negatively affect non-target arthropods. Here we show a remarkable positive effect of Bt maize on the performance of the corn leaf aphid Rhopalosiphum maidis, which in turn enhanced the performance of parasitic wasps that feed on aphid honeydew. Within five out of six pairs that were evaluated, transgenic maize lines were significantly more susceptible to aphids than their near-isogenic equivalents, with the remaining pair being equally susceptible. The aphids feed from the phloem sieve element content and analyses of this sap in selected maize lines revealed marginally, but significantly higher amino acid levels in Bt maize, which might partially explain the observed increased aphid performance. Larger colony densities of aphids on Bt plants resulted in an increased production of honeydew that can be used as food by beneficial insects. Indeed, Cotesia marginiventris, a parasitoid of lepidopteran pests, lived longer and parasitized more pest caterpillars in the presence of aphid-infested Bt maize than in the presence of aphid-infested isogenic maize. Hence, depending on aphid pest thresholds, the observed increased susceptibility of Bt maize to aphids may be either a welcome or an undesirable side effect. |
format | Text |
id | pubmed-1899225 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2007 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-18992252007-07-11 High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests Faria, Cristina A. Wäckers, Felix L. Pritchard, Jeremy Barrett, David A. Turlings, Ted C.J. PLoS One Research Article Concerns about possible undesired environmental effects of transgenic crops have prompted numerous evaluations of such crops. So-called Bt crops receive particular attention because they carry bacteria-derived genes coding for insecticidal proteins that might negatively affect non-target arthropods. Here we show a remarkable positive effect of Bt maize on the performance of the corn leaf aphid Rhopalosiphum maidis, which in turn enhanced the performance of parasitic wasps that feed on aphid honeydew. Within five out of six pairs that were evaluated, transgenic maize lines were significantly more susceptible to aphids than their near-isogenic equivalents, with the remaining pair being equally susceptible. The aphids feed from the phloem sieve element content and analyses of this sap in selected maize lines revealed marginally, but significantly higher amino acid levels in Bt maize, which might partially explain the observed increased aphid performance. Larger colony densities of aphids on Bt plants resulted in an increased production of honeydew that can be used as food by beneficial insects. Indeed, Cotesia marginiventris, a parasitoid of lepidopteran pests, lived longer and parasitized more pest caterpillars in the presence of aphid-infested Bt maize than in the presence of aphid-infested isogenic maize. Hence, depending on aphid pest thresholds, the observed increased susceptibility of Bt maize to aphids may be either a welcome or an undesirable side effect. Public Library of Science 2007-07-11 /pmc/articles/PMC1899225/ /pubmed/17622345 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000600 Text en Faria et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Faria, Cristina A. Wäckers, Felix L. Pritchard, Jeremy Barrett, David A. Turlings, Ted C.J. High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests |
title | High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests |
title_full | High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests |
title_fullStr | High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests |
title_full_unstemmed | High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests |
title_short | High Susceptibility of Bt Maize to Aphids Enhances the Performance of Parasitoids of Lepidopteran Pests |
title_sort | high susceptibility of bt maize to aphids enhances the performance of parasitoids of lepidopteran pests |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1899225/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17622345 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0000600 |
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