AgbioInvestor’s free-to-access service AgbioInvestor GM Monitor has identified the following GM trait approvals up to February 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 stacked soybean containing genetic event DAS 44406 x GMB151 (DAS-44406-6 x BCS-GM151-6) has received both food/feed import approval and cultivation approval in Brazil in what is the first instance of these traits being combined. The soybean contains soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines) resistance and HPPD (isoxaflutole) herbicide tolerance, from the genetic event GMB151, and 2,4-D, glyphosate and glufosinate tolerance from the DAS 44406 event.

The GMB151 genetic event was developed by BASF through agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation of soybean variety Thorne. GMB151 contains a single insert of the Cry14Ab1 and hppdPf4Pa genes, providing nematode resistance and HPPD herbicide tolerance, respectively. Expression of the Cry14Ab1 gene, isolated from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, produces the Cry14Ab1 crystal protein that is active in the digestive tract of susceptible nematode pests. The expression of the hppdPf4Pa gene, isolated from the bacterium Pseudomonas fluorescens, produces a 4-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD-4) enzyme that inactivates HPPD inhibiting herbicides, specifically isoxaflutole, before it accumulates to toxic levels within the plant, providing herbicide tolerance. Isoxaflutole was first introduced in 1996 for use mainly on maize and sugarcane and is a member of the HPPD class of herbicides, which are active through the blocking of the enzyme 4-Hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase, an enzyme responsible for the breakdown of the amino acid tyrosine into molecules that are essential to the plant. Varieties of soybean which possess GMB151 will be tolerant to the herbicidal action of isoxaflutole while surrounding weeds will be susceptible and die when the herbicide is applied.

The DAS 44406 genetic event, originally created by Dow and sold under the brand name Enlist E3 Soybean, was also developed by using agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation. DAS 44406 contains a single insert of the 2mepsps, aad-1 and pat genes, providing the plant with glyphosate 2,4-D and glufosinate tolerance respectively and first received Food/feed and cultivation approval in 2013.

GMB151 has been approved for cultivation in the USA (2020), Canada (2021), Brazil (2021), South Africa (2021) and Paraguay (2022) and is only cultivated in countries with high soybean cyst nematode pressure. The genetic event has gained import approval for food and/or feed uses in a number of countries, with Australia & New Zealand being the first to grant approval in 2020, and Switzerland being the latest to authorise in 2024 (see table above).

GMB151, the first commercially authorised genetically modified solution for nematode control has, until now, only been approved as a standalone event, with DAS 44406 x GMB151 being the first instance of the trait being used in conjunction with another.