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Factors Affecting the Presence and Persistence of Plant DNA in the Soil Environment in Corn and Soybean Rotations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Robert H. Gulden
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Science, 222 Agriculture Building, University of Manitoba, 66 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, MB R3T 2N2, Canada
Sylvain Lerat
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Robert E. Blackshaw
Affiliation:
Lethbridge Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, 5403 1st Avenue South, Lethbridge, AB T1J 4B1, Canada
Jeff R. Powell
Affiliation:
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
David J. Levy-Booth
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Kari E. Dunfield
Affiliation:
Department of Land Resource Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Jack T. Trevors
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
K. Peter Pauls
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
John N. Klironomos
Affiliation:
Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
Clarence J. Swanton*
Affiliation:
Department of Plant Agriculture, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON N1G 2W1, Canada
*
Corresponding author's E-mail: cswanton@uoguelph.ca

Abstract

This study investigated factors that influence occurrence and persistence of plant DNA in the soil environment in three crop rotations. In each rotation, soil was sampled in May before planting, in July and August while crops were growing, and in October after harvest. Total DNA was recovered from soil samples taken at two different depths in the soil profile and quantified. Three target plant genes (corn CP4 epsps, corn 10-kD Zein, and soybean CP4 epsps) also were quantified in these DNA extracts using species-specific quantitative real-time PCR assays. In general, total plant DNA content in the soil environment was greatest when the crop was growing in the field and decreased rapidly after harvest. Nevertheless, low levels of target plant DNA were often still detectable the following spring. Age of rotation did not influence target DNA quantities found in the soil environment. Data were collected for a combination of 10 location-years, which allowed for estimation of the variance components for six factors including time of sampling, year, location, crop, sampling depth, and herbicide to total and target DNA content in the soil samples. Mean target recombinant DNA content in soil was influenced most strongly by time of sampling and year (85 and 6%, respectively), whereas total soil DNA content was less dynamic and was most strongly influenced by location and year (49 and 25%, respectively). Over the duration of this study, no accumulation of transgenic plant DNA in the soil environment was observed.

Type
Soil, Air, and Water
Copyright
Copyright © Weed Science Society of America 

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References

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