Winter wheat expressing the sucrose transporter HvSUT1 from barley (HOSUT) has an increased yield potential. Genetic engineering should improve cultivars without increasing susceptibility to biotic stresses or causing negative impacts on ecosystem services. We studied the effects of HOSUT wheat on cereal aphids that feed on the sugar-rich phloem sap. Three HOSUT winter wheat lines, their conventional parental cultivar Certo, and three conventional cultivars were used. Clip cage experiments in the greenhouse showed no differences in life-table parameters of Rhopalosiphum padi and Sitobion avenae (Hemiptera: Aphididae) on transgenic lines compared to Certo, except higher fecundity of S. avenae on one HOSUT line. Population development of both aphid species over three weeks on caged flowering tillers did not reveal differences between the HOSUT lines and Certo. When aphids were monitored in a Swiss field study over two years, no differences between HOSUT lines and Certo were observed. We conclude that HOSUT wheat did not have consistent effects on aphids compared to the parental cultivar and measured parameters were generally in the range observed for the conventional winter wheat cultivars. Thus, HOSUT wheat is unlikely to suffer from increased aphid damage.
Keywords: HOSUT wheat; agricultural biotechnology; cereal aphids; environmental risk assessment; genetically modified (GM) plants; non-target effects.