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

DAS1131 (DAS-Ø1131-3), developed by Corteva Agriscience, which separated from DowDuPont in 2019 (see AgbioNews Jun 3, 2019), has received approval for use in food in Taiwan.

DAS1131 is a stacked gene trait, developed through the introduction of the DGT-28 gene, which is a novel source of the DGT-28 epsps protein that confers glyphosate herbicide tolerance by targeting the maize chloroplasts through the TraP8 peptide, and the Cry1Da2 gene, to confer lepidopteran resistance. What is novel about the DGT-28 gene is its source - Streptomyces sviceus – and the DAS1131 event is the only event in which it is found.

DAS1131 was developed through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation to contain the desired genetic information, and successful genetic transformation was then screened for using a selectable marker.

The 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (epsps) gene typically confers glyphosate herbicide tolerance, with the epsps gene being sourced from Arthrobacter globiformis, the cp4 epsps gene from Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain CP4 and the mepsps and 2mepsps genes from Zea mays. These are all typically soil bacterium, which have been noted to be herbicide resistant. Synthetic genes can also be used, such as the synthetic gene similar to epsps grg23 gene from soil bacterium Arthrobacter globiformis.

DAS1131 maize has been approved for cultivation in only two countries, Brazil and Canada, with both countries receiving this approval in 2023. It was approved for both food/feed use in Canada and the USA in 2023, and in Brazil in 2024. With food use only approval in Australia & New Zealand and Taiwan and a feed only approval in Colombia all being granted in 2024.