Unintended effects of transgenic rice revealed by transcriptome and metabolism

Abstract Cry1Ab toxin has been effectively integrated into crops such as rice and cotton for pest control, and the safety evaluation of transgenic rice has attracted widespread attention. Nevertheless, the effects of transgenic rice straw on animal model are still unclear. Hence, the present study conducted an integrated analysis to evaluate the unintended effects of transgenic rice straw expressing Cry1Ab protein on the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) mice under 90-day treatment. The results indicated that Cry1Ab rice straw had no significant effects on the behavior and body weight of mice. In addition, physiological indicators, including hemogram, blood biochemistry, apoptosis rate, and calcium ion concentration of the blood lymphocytes, displayed no alterations under Cry1Ab protein stress. Similarly, Cry1Ab rice straw had no adverse effects on several antioxidase activities (i.e., catalase, superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, glutathione peroxidase, and acetylcholine esterase). Moreover, we recorded that Cry1Ab stress did not adversely impact the sperm quality and follicular development of male and female ICR mice. Collectively, this integrated analysis indicates that Cry1Ab rice straw has no adverse or toxic effects on ICR mice after 90-day treatment and provides multi-level perspectives to assess the safety of genetically modified crops on non-target mammals.

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"Did you know?" - Unintended effects of metacognitive prompts on unfamiliar information

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e514472015-503 ◽

2014 ◽

Author(s):

Kaidi Wu ◽

Patricia Chen ◽

Norbert Schwarz

Keyword(s):

Unintended Effects ◽

Metacognitive Prompts

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Impact of climate discourse on national scientific networks in energy technologies: the case of Estonian science and industry linkages

Administrative Culture ◽

10.32994/hk.v20i1.203 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 20-45

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Global Climate Change ◽

Global Climate ◽

National Level ◽

Incremental Innovation ◽

Unintended Effects ◽

Research Strategies ◽

Energy Technologies ◽

Global Discourse ◽

Research Agendas

This article examines how the global climate change discourse influences the implementation of national science policy in the area of energy technology, with a focus on industry and science collaborations and networks. We develop a set of theoretical propositions about how the issues in the global discourse are likely to influence research agendas and networks, the nature of industry-science linkages and the direction of innovation. The plausibility of these propositions is examined, using Estonia as a case study. We find that the global climate discourse has indeed led to the diversification of research agendas and networks, but the shifts in research strategies often tend to be rhetorical and opportunistic. The ambiguity of the global climate change discourse has also facilitated incremental innovation towards energy efficiency and the potentially sub-optimal lock-in of technologies. In sum, the Estonian case illustrates how the introduction of policy narratives from the global climate change discourse to the national level can shape the actual policy practices and also networks of actors in a complex and non-linear fashion, with unintended effects.

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