Abstract
To respect the European labelling threshold for the adventitious presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in food and feed, stakeholders mainly rely on real-time PCR analysis, which provides a measurement expressed as a percentage of GM-DNA. However, this measurement veils the complexity of gene flow, especially in the case of gene stacking. We have investigated the impact of gene stacking on adventitious GM presence due to pollen flow and seed admixture as well as its translation in terms of the percentage of GM-DNA in a non-GM maize harvest. In the case of varieties bearing one to four stacked events, we established a set of relationships between the percentage of GM kernels and the percentage of GM-DNA in a non-GM harvest as well as a set of relationships between the rate of seed admixture and the percentages of GM material in a non-GM harvest. Thanks to these relationships, and based on simulations with a gene flow model, we have been able to demonstrate that the number of events and the stacking structure of the emitting fields impact the ability of a non-GM maize producer to comply with given GM kernel or GM-DNA thresholds. We also show that a great variability in the rates of GM kernels, embryos and DNA results from seed admixture. Finally, the choice of a unit of measurement for a GM threshold in seed lots can have opposite effects on the ability of farmers to comply with a given threshold depending on whether they are crop or seed producers.
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Notes
MAPOD: Matricial Approach to Pollen Dispersal.
According to the Commission guidelines for the development of national strategies and best practices to ensure coexistence (EC 2003c): “As a general principle, during the phase of introduction of a new production type in a region, operators (farmers) who introduce the new production type should bear the responsibility of implementing the farm management measures necessary to limit gene flow”.
“They shall not go beyond what is necessary in order to ensure that adventitious traces of GMOs stay below the tolerance thresholds set out in Community legislation. They should avoid any unnecessary burden for farmers, seed producers, cooperatives and other actors associated with any production type”.
The level of GM adventitious presence in seed lots which was envisaged for seed labelling of cross-pollinated plants (EC 2001).
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Alain Charcosset, Matthieu Falque (UMR de génétique végétale du Moulon, INRA), Fabien Nogué (Institut Jean Pierre Bourgin, INRA) and Yves Bertheau (département SPE, INRA) for their expertise and useful suggestions. We are also grateful to Suzette Tanis-Plant for discussions in English. This work was financially supported by the European Commission through the Sixth Framework Program, integrated project Co-Extra (http://www.coextra.eu), contract FOOD-2005-CT-007158.
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Paul, L., Angevin, F., Collonnier, C. et al. Impact of gene stacking on gene flow: the case of maize. Transgenic Res 21, 243–256 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-011-9527-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11248-011-9527-5