Jan 27, 2010

Research Results

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Biosafety research results:

“Looking at all the results, we can assume that cultivation of this maize does not pose a problem.”

From 2005 to 2008, a joint biosafety research group studied genetically modified MON88017 Bt maize, which has a new gene that makes it resistant to the Western corn rootworm. The research findings are now available. GMO Safety spoke to Stefan Rauschen of RWTH Aachen University, who has been coordinating the biosafety research into genetically modified maize since 2008.

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Dr Stefan Rauschen of the Institute of Biology III (Plant Physiology) at RWTH Aachen University in an interview with GMO Safety

The Western corn rootworm is a leaf beetle and its larvae cause the most damage.

Western corn rootworm larvae eating a root

The maize trial field in summer 2007

Focus Soil: Ground beetles in a pitfall trap

Quarantine pests: Maize rood borer have to be breed under specific safety precautions.

MON88017 hit the headlines in July this year when soya imports from the USA were turned away because they were found to contain traces of this maize, which is not yet authorised in the European Union. MON88017 with resistance to the Western corn rootworm has been awaiting approval in Europe since 2005. Initially, the approval application was only for import and for use as food and feed, but in 2008 an application for cultivation was submitted as well.

MON88017 Bt maize produces a protein, Bt protein Cry3Bb1, which targets the Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica v. vigifera). This is a new maize pest in Europe. It was brought to south-eastern Europe in the early 1990s and has been spreading ever since in a north-westerly direction, reaching southern Germany for the first time in 2007.

Focus soil

Between 2005 and 2008, a large number of biological safety research projects investigated the potential ecological impacts of cultivating Diabrotica-resistant Bt maize. In one field trial, four different maize variants were grown on a total of 32 plots: MON88017 Bt maize, the isogenic parent variety and two further conventional varieties for comparative purposes.

A special characteristic of the maize that formed the subject of the research is that it produces the Bt protein primarily in its roots, i.e. precisely where the larvae of the Western corn rootworm eat and damage the plants. For this reason, one of the focal areas of the research was on potential impacts of the Bt maize on non-target organisms that live in and on the soil. Since the Western corn rootworm is a beetle and the Bt protein produced in MON88017 specifically targets beetles, the research focused particularly on various species of beetle.

Another focus was the investigation of the development of possible resistance in pests. Bt maize MON88017 is mainly effective on the first larval stage (L1) of the pest. Since the maize root borer also uses other plants as food sources, animals with partial resistance could develop if the sensitive L1 larvae initially feed on other plants and then transfer to the Bt maize and survive.

Since the maize root borer is a so-called quarantine pest, both the breeding and the trials with these animals have to be carried out under strict safety conditions.

To be able to make statistically verified statements on the possible effects of Bt maize on non-target organisms, a working group with statistical know-how aided the project, and was involved in the planning and analysis of the trials.