Biodiv Sci ›› 2016, Vol. 24 ›› Issue (12): 1373-1380.  DOI: 10.17520/biods.2016142

• Original Papers: Plant Diversity • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Cry1Ab/c protein residues from Bt cotton-producing areas in regions with marginal water in three provinces in eastern China

Hua Liu1,2, Xiaolei Chang3, Wei Jiang2,4, Lan Bai1,4, Shufeng Zheng5, Jinbin Wang1,4, Wei Wang5, Aihu Pan1,4, Rongtan Wang6, Xueming Tang1,2,4,*()   

  1. 1 Supervision, Inspection and Test Center for Environmental Safety of Genetically Modified Crops of Ministry of Agriculture, Shanghai 201106
    2 Biotechnology Research Institute, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106
    3 Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai 201306
    4 Key Laboratory of Agricultural Genetics and Breeding, Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai 201106
    5 Cotton Research Institute of Anhui Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CRI, AAAS), Anqing, Anhui 246003
    6 Shanghai Rui-feng Agro-Technology Company Limited, Shanghai 201106;
  • Received:2016-05-20 Accepted:2016-08-24 Online:2016-12-20 Published:2017-01-10
  • Contact: Tang Xueming

Abstract:

To investigate Cry1Ab/c protein residues in marginal water regions of transgenic cotton-producing areas, this study focused on 15 sampling points from three provinces of eastern China using random sampling. We sampled three consecutive years during the flowering and harvesting of cotton, respectively, purified Cry1Ab/c proteins in these samples were detected using the ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) method. Results showed that: (1) The highest concentration of Cry1Ab/c protein in marginal water reached 0.4 ppb at one sampling point. At the other four monitoring points, the residual concentration of Cry1Ab/c protein was less than 0.04 ppb. (2) The closer the cotton field, the higher the positive detection rate, and the positive rate was 13.3% in the cotton field canals. (3) The positive protein detection rate was 12.4% in planting fields that had been planted for more than 7 years. We also found that during the harvest season the positive protein detection rate was easier to detect than during the flowering period. Our findings indicated that the Bt cotton-producing areas should be properly monitored during the harvest season, in order to reduce the potential impacts of Cry1Ab/c protein on the marginal water sources in transgenic cotton producing areas.

Key words: transgenic cotton, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), Cry1Ab/c protein residues