Bt Research 2025, Vol.16, No.5, 214-223 http://microbescipublisher.com/index.php/bt 214 Research Insights Open Access Bt Toxins Degradation in Different Environmental Matrices Jiayi Wu, Guanli Fu Modern Agricultural Research Center, Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China Corresponding author: guanli.fu@cuixi.org Bt Research, 2025, Vol.16, No.5 doi: 10.5376/bt.2025.16.0024 Received: 16 Aug., 2025 Accepted: 28 Sep., 2025 Published: 18 Oct., 2025 Copyright © 2025 Wu and Fu, This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Preferred citation for this article: Wu J.Y., and Fu G.L., 2025, Bt toxins degradation in different environmental matrices, Bt Research, 16(5): 214-223 (doi: 10.5376/bt.2025.16.0024) Abstract This study analyzed the degradation behavior and influencing factors of transgenic Bt toxin in different environmental substrates such as soil, water, plant residues, and atmosphere. Bt toxin, as a crystal insecticidal protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis, may have residual properties in the environment and cause ecological risks. This study used typical cases to analyze the degradation dynamics of Bt toxins under long-term planting of Bt crops, lakes and rivers, and straw return to the field conditions, and evaluated its ecological and environmental risks. The results show that most studies did not find that Bt toxins and their degradation products had obvious and lasting effects on non-target biological and ecological functions, and the environmental safety of Bt crops was generally good. Finally, looking forward to the future research direction, it is proposed to strengthen in-depth research on the degradation mechanism of Bt toxin under different extreme environmental conditions, and conduct ecological safety assessments of degradation products to support the sustainable development of green agriculture. Keywords Bt toxin; Degradation kinetics; Soil environment; Water environment; Straw return to the field; Ecological risk assessment 1 Introduction Bt toxin is a crystalline protein produced by Bacillus thuringiensis during the formation of the buds. It has high efficiency and specific insecticidal activity and is widely used in microbial pesticide preparations and transgenic insect-resistant crops. On the one hand, Bt toxins have protein properties and may undergo adsorption, degradation or inactivation in environmental media; on the other hand, Bt crops release Bt toxin proteins into the environment through root secretions, litters and pollen, thereby affecting non-target organisms and ecosystems (Deng et al., 2019). The persistence dynamics and degradation rules of Bt toxins in the environment have become one of the core scientific issues in the environmental safety evaluation of genetically modified insect-resistant crops. The results of existing research reports are inconsistent. Some laboratory and field studies have found that Bt toxin has a short half-life in soil and is prone to degradation and disappearance, while others have detected that low levels of Bt protein can last in soil for several months (Yao, 2005; Qing, 2011). Therefore, it is necessary to conduct comprehensive research on the degradation behavior of Bt toxins in different environmental matrixes to clarify the key environmental factors and mechanisms of action that affect Bt toxin degradation. This study is discussed in accordance with the environmental media's research progress in degradation of Bt toxins into soil, water, plant residues, organic matter, atmosphere and other modules. The focus is on reviewing the degradation rules and influencing factors of Bt toxin in typical environmental matrix, such as soil physical and chemical properties and microorganisms, light and hydrological conditions, and plant straw return management on the degradation of Bt protein; then the degradation practice results of Bt toxin under long-term Bt crop planting fields, natural water bodies and straw return conditions are analyzed through cases; finally, the ecological security of Bt toxin degradation products and its impact on non-target organisms are discussed, and the future research direction is to provide scientific reference for the environmental risk assessment of Bt gene crops and the sustainable development of green agriculture.
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