AgbioInvestor’s free-to-access service AgbioInvestor GM Monitor has identified the following GM trait approvals up to August 2023. 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.

Pioneer’s DP915635 maize, which utilises the novel genetic event DP915635 (DP-915635-4), has received import approval in the United States.

The trait was developed by Pioneer and confers insect resistance and herbicide tolerance to maize variety PHR03. DP915635 utilises two genes; Ophioderma pendulum insecticidal protein IPD079Ea (ipd079ea), responsible for coleopteran insect resistance, specifically resistance to Western corn rootworm (Diabrotica virgifera), and herbicide tolerance to glufosinate, through expression of Streptomyces viridochromogenes phosphinothricin N-acetyltransferase (pat) which inactivates the herbicidal compound through acetylation.

The transformation protocol involves two steps to achieve a site-specific integration into the maize genome and utilises agrobacterium-mediated DNA transfer and biolistic methods. In the first step, four plasmids were introduced by microparticle bombardment, which introduced recombination sites at a specific location using CRISPR/Cas9. In the second step, Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was used to introduce the final gene cassettes through recombination with sequences present in the first insertion site.

DP915635 maize has previously received approval for both food and feed use in Canada and Taiwan in 2022 and has now been granted the same import approvals in the US. It has not yet been approved for cultivation.