Assessing the potential effects of insect-resistant genetically engineered (GE) plants on
collembolans is important because these common soil arthropods may be exposed to
insecticidal proteins produced in GE plants by ingestion of plant residues, crop pollen,
or root exudates. Laboratory studies were conducted to evaluate the potential effects of
two Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-rice lines expressing Cry1C and Cry2A in pollen and leaves
and of their non-Bt conventional isolines on the fitness of the collembolan Folsomia
candida and on the activities of its antioxidant-related enzymes, superoxide dismutase
and peroxidase, and of its detoxification-related enzymes, glutathione reductase and
glutathione S-transferase. Survival, development, reproduction, and the intrinsic rate of
increase (rm) were not significantly reduced when F. candida fed on the Bt rice pollen
or leaf powder than on the non-Bt rice materials; these parameters, however, were
significantly reduced when F. candida fed on non-Bt rice pollen or non-Bt leaf-based
diets containing the protease inhibitor E-64 at 75 mg/g. The activities of the antioxidantrelated
and detoxification-related enzymes in F. candida were not significantly affected
when F. candida fed on the Bt rice materials, but were significantly increased when
F. candida fed on the non-Bt rice materials containing E-64. The results demonstrate
that Cry1C and Cry2A are not toxic to F. candida, and also indicate the absence of
unintended effects on the collembolan caused by any change in plant tissue nutritional
composition due to foreign gene transformation.