Increasing crop yields to ensure food security is a major challenge. Mutagenesis is an important tool in crop improvement and is free of the regulatory restrictions imposed on genetically modified organisms. The forward genetic approach enables the identification of improved or novel phenotypes that can be exploited in conventional breeding programmes. Powerful reverse genetic strategies that a...

SUMMARY Is genetically modified food safe? Are concerns over genetically modified food warranted? What is the difference between introducing genes into plants by grafting and by molecular engineering? These and other questions are answered in the book "Mendel in the Kitchen" written by plant biology expert Dr. Nina Fedoroff.

Genetically modified (GM) crops offer potential for enhancing agricultural productivity smallholder farmers in Africa. After nearly three decades of research and development collaboration regulatory capacity strengthening, several countries Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are moving towards commercializing GM the benefit farmers. South approved genetically cotton, maize soybeans 1990s. Nigeria, Ethiop...

Background The introduction on the market of genetically modified (GM) foods has raised the question of the assessment of the potential allergenicity of the newly expressed protein (s) and of the whole GM food. We aimed at comparing the immune responses induced in mice after experimental sensitization with the insect resistant GM maize MON810 expressing the Cry1Ab protein vs its conventional co...

The composition of the rhizosphere microbiome is a result of interactions between plant roots, soil, and environmental conditions. The impact of genetic variation in plant species on the composition of the root-associated microbiota remains poorly understood. This study assessed the abundances and structures of nitrogen-transforming (ammonia-oxidizing) archaea and bacteria as well as nitrogen-f...

There are possible environmental risks related to gene flow from genetically engineered organisms. It is important to find accurate, fast, and inexpensive methods to detect and monitor the presence of genetically modified (GM) organisms in crops and derived crop products. In the present study, GM maize kernels containing both cry1Ab/cry2Aj-G10evo proteins and their non-GM parents were examined ...

In this opinion, the GMO Panelassessed the five-event stack maize MON87427xMON89034x1507xMON88017x59122 and its 25 subcombinations, independently of their origin. The GMO Panelhas previously assessed the five single events combined to produce this five-event stack maize and 11 subcombinations of these events and did not identify safety concerns. No new data on the single events or their previou...