IC4R007-Metabolomics-2009-19233746

Project Title

Metabolic profiling of transgenic rice with cryIAc and sck genes: An evaluation of unintended effects at metabolic level by using GC-FID and GC–MS

The Background of This Project

• Oryza sativa L. is a major food crop consumed by a half of the world’s population. During the growth period, disease, insect pest and abiotic stress (drought, heat, cold, salt etc.) are main fac- tors causing the yield reduction. To solve the above-mentioned problems, modern biotechnology is applied in rice breeding which introduces improved agronomic characteristics. Two kinds of insecticidal genes including Bacillus thuringiensis gene and cowpea trypsin inhibitor gene (Bt and CpTI genes) are widely used for the production of insect-resistant plants. Bt gene from Bacillus thuringiensis strains encoding toxin proteins (Cry or Cyt protein) has been introduced into crop plants for its activity against lepidoptera pests but not mammals [29–32]. Bt insecticidal protein has a rapid and strong effect but relatively narrow spectrum of insect-resistant and it is easy to induce insect tolerance. Sck gene, a modified cowpea trypsin inhibitor gene has enough resistance to lepidoptera and part of the coleopteran pests which is often used together with cry gene [33–35].

• The double transgenic rice with sck and cryIAc genes combined different insect-resistant mechanism, exhibited wider anti-insect spectrum and higher resistance against the pests than the single transgenics [36]. Some work has been carried out to assess the changes of proteins, metabolites, genes and physicochemical properties of the GM rice [21,37–43]. Most of the studies on metabolism only paid attention to the key nutri- ents and anti-nutrients such as proximates, fiber compounds, total amino acids, total fatty acids, micronutrients, phytic acid, trypsin inhibitors, lectins and so on. Researches of the global, untargeted metabolite profile of transgenic rice were relatively few.

Plant Materials

• The rice (O. sativa L.) for study was provided by the Key Laboratory of Agriculture Genetic Engineering, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences (Fuzhou). The transgenic rice was developed by Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. M86 was used as the host for the cryIAc and sck genes. The marker-free transgenic samples (N6: N6080, N6130 and N6188) integrated with two insecticidal genes were grown side- by-side with the wild parent (M86-C) in the same period (sowed on Nov. 25, 2005). Additionally, there were other wild M86 samples from different sowing dates or sites including M86-D1 (sowed on Dec. 15, 2005), M86-D2 (sowed on Dec. 25, 2005), and M86-F (sowed on May 25, 2005). All samples but M86-F sowed in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, China were planted in and obtained from the experimental field of Hainan Province, China. Detailed sample information was listed in Table 1.

Labs working on this Project

• Key Laboratory of Separation Science for Analytical Chemistry, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, The Chinese Academy of Sciences, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, China
• Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
• National Institute for Nutrition and Food Safety, Chinese CDC, 100050 Beijing, China

Corresponding Author

• Guowang Xu (E-mail: xugw@dicp.ac.cn)