GE Wheat has No Detrimental Effects on Anecic Earthworm
July 20, 2012| |
Scientists Andreas Linfeld and Wolfgang Nentwig from the University of Bern in Switzerland tested the performance of an anecic earthworm species (Lumbricus terrestris) when feeding on genetically engineered (GE) antifungal wheat. Linfeld and Nentwig compared the litter composition, weight change, and mortality of earthworms feeding on GE wheat with resistance to powdery mildew or GE wheat with unspecific resistance against fungi via chitinase and glucanase expression with non-GE wheat or other conventional cereals.
After 8 weeks of exposure to soil containing different treatments, the team found that GE wheat did not cause any detrimental direct or indirect effects on the earthworms. They also observed that the earthworms tended to cope more with GE wheat varieties. Based on the results, the team concluded that transgene products did not cause harm on the important ecosystem engineer L. terrestris, and thus ecosystem services such as decomposition, organic matter turnover, and nutrient cycling were not affected.
Read the research article from The Open Ecology Journal at http://benthamscience.com/open/toecolj/articles/V005/45TOECOLJ.pdf.
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