Effects of transgenic glufosinate-tolerant rapeseed (Brassica napus L.) and the associated herbicide application on rhizospheric bacterial communities

Effects of transgenic crops on soil microbial communities are important constituents in ecological risk assessment. The Illumina MiSeq sequencing method was employed to examine the effects of transgenic glufosinate-resistant rapeseed and the associated herbicide application on rhizospheric bacterial communities at different growth stages. Our results showed that both transgenic rapeseed and the application of herbicide Basta (active ingredient: glufosinate) had no significant influence on alpha-diversity of rhizospheric bacterial communities. The dominant phyla across all samples were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Actinobacteria. These dominant phyla show no remarkable differences under transgenic rapeseed, transgenic rapeseed with glufosinate applied, and non-transgenic acceptor counterpart rapeseed. Nevertheless, they respond differently at different growth stages. These results indicate that community variation was strongly dependent on the growth stage. Therefore, growing glufosinate-resistant transgenic rapeseed line Z7B10 and application of glufosinate herbicide had no adverse effects on the rhizospheric bacterial community composition.