AgbioInvestor’s free-to-access service AgbioInvestor GM Monitor has identified the following GM trait approvals up to December 2024. Expanded details on these recently approved traits, as well as for approvals dating back as far as 1992, can be found on AgbioInvestor’s GM Monitor website.

BASF’s GHB811 x LLCotton25 x MON 88701 cotton, which utilises the genetic events GHB811 (BCS-GHB811-4), LLCotton25 (ACS-GHØØ1-3) and MON 88701 (MON 887Ø1-3), also referred to by its brand name Axant Flex, has received import approval in Colombia for use as food.

All three events used in Axant Flex cotton were developed by Agrobacterium tumefaciens mediated transformation, through which a segment of T-DNA, containing the desired genetic information, is transferred into host cells. Successful genetic transformation is then screened for, often through the use of marker genes to demonstrate the proper insertion of the DNA transcript.

GHB811 x LLCotton25 x MON 88701 utilises four genes to provide four forms of herbicide tolerance (HT). The GHB811 event is responsible for the 2mepsps and hppdPfW336-1Pa genes, introducing glyphosate and HPPD (isoxaflutole) tolerance respectively, while the LLCotton25 event introduces glufosinate tolerance to the plant through the bar gene. The MON 88701 Event adds a fourth kind of herbicide tolerance through the addition of the DMO gene which encodes dicamba tolerance as well as being an additional source of the bar gene and glufosinate tolerance. The bar gene encodes the phosphinothricin N-acetyltransferase (PAT) protein which inactivates glufosinate herbicides, before they accumulate to toxic levels within the plant, providing HT. The 2mepsps gene encodes the 2mEPSPS protein which similarly allows tolerance to glyphosate and the hppdPfW336-1Pa gene encodes the HPPD W336 protein and provides tolerance to the HPPD-inhibiting herbicide isoxaflutole, with the DMO gene achieving a similar result and inhibiting dicamba herbicides by encoding a dicamba mono-oxygenase enzyme.

LLCotton25 was developed in 1995 by DeKalb and has cultivation approval in 5 countries and food/feed use approval in 18 countries. GHB811 was originally developed by Bayer who’s, seed business was later acquired by BASF, and received its first import and cultivation approvals in 2018. GHB811 has been authorised for cultivation in 7 countries and food/feed use in 15. MON 88701, which was originally developed by Monsanto before its acquisition by Bayer, has been authorised for cultivation in 5 countries and food/feed use in 12.

As of the time of publication, GHB811 x LLCotton25 x MON 88701 cotton has not yet received cultivation approval, however has received import approval in 5 countries, with all five of the countries approving it for both food and feed uses. South Korea and Singapore first approved it for import in 2022 and Taiwan, the USA and Colombia issuing their first approvals in 2023, with Colombia granting its second food approval this year in late 2024.