The Effects of GH Transgenic Goats on the Microflora of the Intestine, Feces and Surrounding Soil.

Zekun Bao,Qian Yang,Qiang Zhang,Xue Gao,Huiqing Yu,Jianquan Chen,Weiwei Hu,Jian Lin,Qinghua Yu,Xiuchun (Cindy) Tian

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0139822

Abstract

The development of genetically engineered animals has brought with it increasing concerns about biosafety issues. We therefore evaluated the risks of growth hormone from transgenic goats, including the probability of horizontal gene transfer and the impact on the microbial community of the goats’ gastrointestinal tracts, feces and the surrounding soil. The results showed that neither the GH nor the neoR gene could be detected in the samples. Moreover, there was no significant change in the microbial community of the gastrointestinal tracts, feces and soil, as tested with PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rDNA sequencing. Finally, phylogenetic analysis showed that the intestinal content, feces and soil samples all contained the same dominant group of bacteria. These results demonstrated that expression of goat growth hormone in the mammary of GH transgenic goat does not influence the microflora of the intestine, feces and surrounding soil.

Highlights

The breeding of animals using genetically engineered (GE) technology has recently become possible
The results showed that the extracted DNA from all samples contained the bacterial gene
To study the influence of the growth hormone (GH) and Neomycin resistance gene (neoR) genes on the bacterial community structure, DGGE was performed after PCR amplification of the variable V3 region of the 16S rDNA from the microbial DNAs

Summary

Introduction

The breeding of animals using genetically engineered (GE) technology has recently become possible. This process could avoid time-consuming artificial hybridization breeding and pure breeding programs. The safety evaluation of GE animals and food products should be considered seriously, especially with regard to potential effects on microflora through possible horizontal gene transfer. Horizontal gene transfer, known as lateral gene transfer, refers to the transfer of genes between different species, such as between prokaryotes and eukaryotes in a manner other than traditional reproduction [6]. According to former reports, this phenomenon can take place between different species, including between bacteria and bacteria, between plants and bacteria, and between animals and plants [7,8,9,10]. Microflora may PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0139822 October 7, 2015

Methods

Results

Conclusion