Effects of the cultivation of genetically modified Bt crops on nontarget soil organisms - Microbial Ecology in Sustainable Agroecosystems - page 176

Table 8.4 Summary of Effects of Cultivation of Bt Crops or Amendment with Bt Proteins on Soil Fungi

Bt crop/experimental
variable Organism Methods Study location Protein Effect on fungi Source

Fungi Selective plating Laboratory Soil amended with Bt

cotton leaves

Cry1Ac Transient increase in

culturable fungi in
soil amended with Bt
cotton

Donegan et
al. (1995)

Fungi Culturing Laboratory Soil amended with Bt

protein

Cry1Ac
Cry1Ab

No effect of Bt protein
on soil fungi

Donegan et
al. (1995)

Fusarium sp., Pythium
sp., Verticillium dahlia

Culturing Field Soil cultivated with Bt

and non- Bt potato

Cry3A Minimal difference in

culturable fungi
between Bt and
chemically or
microbially treated
potato

Donegan et
al. (1996)

Zygomycetes
Ascomycete
Deuteromycetes
Yeasts

Culturing Plant growth

room

Soil cultivated with Bt
and non- Bt maize
Soil amended with
biomass of Bt and
non- Bt maize

Cry1Ab No difference in

numbers between
soils amended with
biomass of Bt and
non- Bt maize or in
rhizosphere soil of Bt
and non- Bt maize

Saxena and
Stotzky
(2001a)

Cunninghamela elegans ,
Rhizopus nigricans ,
Aspergillus niger ,
Fusarium solani ,
Penicillium sp.,
Saccharomyces
cerevisiae , and Candida
albicans

Culturing,
dilution,
disk-diffusion,
and sporulation
assays

Laboratory Purified protein added

to pure and mixed
cultures

Cry1Ab
Cry3A
Cry4

No effect of Bt protein
on growth of fungi in
vitro

Koskella and
Stotzky
(2002)

(continued)