Abstract
Common wheat is one of the most important staple food crops worldwide. However, unlike other important staple crops such as maize or soybean, genetically modified (GM) wheat is not yet present in the global food market. Nonetheless, in the recent past, the adventitious presence of GM glyphosate-tolerant volunteers was reported in open wheat fields in the USA. The European Union Reference Laboratory for GM Food and Feed (EURL-GMFF) was therefore called to develop a strategy to detect such unauthorised GM wheat in wheat samples by using both taxon-specific and screening tests. Two candidate common wheat taxon-specific real-time PCR methods were suggested, one targeting ssII-D gene coding for starch synthase and the other targeting waxy-D1 gene, coding for granule-bound starch synthase. In the present study, the two above-mentioned real-time PCR taxon-specific methods were in-house verified and compared, proposing droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) as a new tool for supporting the application of the European Network of GMO Laboratories (ENGL) established method performance criteria. Preliminary performance data of waxy-D1 and ssII-D methods in ddPCR format are shown too to give a contribution to the bridging process from the consolidated to the emerging quantitative PCR methodology.
Highlights
Common wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the major food crops in the world
Within this line of research, in the 90s, Monsanto, one of the major agrobiotech companies, launched a programme for the development of genetically modified common wheat tolerant to glyphosate herbicide, and some promising GM Bevents^ were authorised in the USA to be tested in field trials
Two real-time PCR wheat taxon-specific methods were selected from the relevant literature available as potential candidates for playing the role of a taxon-specific reference system for GM wheat quantification
Summary
Common wheat (Triticum aestivum) is one of the major food crops in the world. Belonging to the Triticum genus, it is one of the most widespread staple cereals in the food industry, and consists of several cold-resistant cultivars allowing its cultivation in frigid climate areas too. Betting on its potential impact in the food sector, the public research biotech industry has been striving for decades to put genetically modified (GM) wheat on the market by trying to incorporate desired traits such as herbicide tolerance, disease resistance and improvements in the quality of this crop (Leckband and Lörz 1998; Anand et al 2003; Hu et al 2003; Abouseadaa et al 2015; Shin et al 2008) Within this line of research, in the 90s, Monsanto, one of the major agrobiotech companies, launched a programme for the development of genetically modified common wheat tolerant to glyphosate herbicide, and some promising GM Bevents^ (such as MON71800) were authorised in the USA to be tested in field trials. As this GM crops are not authorised in the EU, in both cases, the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) informed the European Commission and the member states of the European Union of the event and the European Commission urged the member states to start testing consignments of common wheat at import from the USA for the presence of unauthorised GM wheat
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