The ladybird
Propylea japonica, adults of the green lacewing
Chrysoperla nipponensis and the honey bee
Apis mellifera are common pollen feeders in many crop systems. They could therefore be directly exposed to Cry proteins in
Bacillus thuringiensis (
Bt)-transgenic crop fields by ingestion of pollen. They, or closely related species, are therefore often selected as surrogate test species in non-target risk assessment of
Bt plants. In the current study, we evaluated the potential effects of the ingestion of
Bt maize pollen containing the Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac fusion protein on various life-table parameters of the three pollen-feeding non-target species in laboratory feeding assays. The results showed that pupation rate and male adult fresh weight of
P. japonica were significantly increased when fed pollen from
Bt maize compared to control maize pollen, but other test life-table parameters were not affected. For the other two species, none of the tested life-table parameters (survival, pre-oviposition period, fecundity and adult fresh weight for
C. nipponensis; survival and mean acinus diameter of hypopharyngeal glands for
A. mellifera) differed between non-
Bt and
Bt maize pollen treatments. ELISA measurements confirmed the stability and uptake of the Cry protein by all three species during the feeding bioassays. In addition, a sensitive insect bioassay confirmed the bioactivity of the Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac protein in the
Bt maize pollen used. Overall, the results suggested that the three pollen feeders are not sensitive to the Cry1Ab/Cry1Ac protein, and planting of the
Bt maize variety will pose a negligible risk to
P. japonica, adult
C. nipponensis and adult
A. mellifera.
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