Assessing Effects of Transgenic Crops on Soil Microbial Communities Informazioni sul documento Titolo Assessing Effects of Transgenic Crops on Soil Microbial Communities Tipo di documento Rapporto Autori Franco Widmer Abstract Deleterious effects of transgenic plants on soils represent an often expressed concern, which has catalyzed numerous studies in the recent past. In this literature review, studies addressing this question have been compiled. A total of 60 studies has been found, and their findings as well as their analytical approaches are summarized. These studies analyzed the effects of seven different types of genetically engineered traits, i.e., herbicide tolerance, insect resistance, virus resistance, proteinase inhibitors, antimicrobial activity, environmental application, and biomolecule production. Sixteen genetically engineered plant species were investigated in these studies including corn, canola, soybean, cotton, potato, tobacco, alfalfa, wheat, rice, tomato, papaya, aubergine, and silver birch. Many of these plants and traits have not been commercialized and represent experimental model systems. Effects on soil microbial characteristics have been described in various studies, indicating the sensitivity and feasibility of the analytical approaches applied. However, classification of the observed effects into acceptable and unacceptable ones has not been possible so far. Establishment of validated indicators for adverse effects represents a scientific challenge for the near future, and will assist risk assessment and regulation of transgenic plants commercially released to the field. Riassunto Contatto Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART Informazioni Serie Editore Serie Pagine 207-234 Volume Informazioni sull‘Editore Editore (=Verlag) Springer Posizione Berlin Anno 2007 Numero di pagine 28 ISBN Distribuzione Distribuzione formato Prezzo Ordinare http://libraries.admin.ch/cgi-bin/gwalex/chameleon?skin=portal&lng=it Indirizzo Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon ART Download -