New Delhi, India
April 7, 2008
Source:
Government of India
The global area under commercial
cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops is increasing at
a very fast pace. In India too, there has been dramatic increase
in commercial cultivation of Bt cotton. There is an urgent need
for upgrading the analytical methods for the GM detection to
check the authorized GM crops being cultivated and to solve the
legal disputes as well as to meet the labeling and international
trade requirements.
Diagnostic kits based on Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) have
been developed for five GM crops. Bt cotton (Bollgard I) with
cry1Ac gene was the first GM crop to be commercialized in India
in March 2002 and Bt cotton (Bollgard II) with cry1Ac and cry2Ab
for insect resistance has also been commercialized. Revealing
this at a Press Conference in New Delhi today, Union Minister
for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Kapil Sibal
said that these diagnostic kits developed at NBPGR under a
collaborative research project funded by DBT are ready for
commercial launch and will be of immense use to meet the
regulatory obligations and legal requirements as well as helping
to address the consumer concerns.
The other four food crops viz. Bt brinjal and Bt cauliflower
with cry1Ac gene, for insect resistance, GM mustard with
barnase/ barstar gene for male sterility and GM tomato with
osmotin gene for drought and salinity tolerance are either in
field trials or in advanced stages of testing in contained field
trials.
The kits can detect specific transgenes, cry1Ac, cry2Ab,
barnase/ barstar, and osmotin gene, individually as well as
along with CaMV35S promoter and endogenous genes, Sad1 in
cotton, SRK1 in cauliflower, HMG in mustard, Lat52 in tomato.
|
Crop
|
Transgene/promoter/endogenous gene |
Trait |
| Cotton
(Bollgard I) |
cry1Ac/CaMV 35S/Sad1 |
|
| Cotton
(Bollgard II) |
cry1Ac &
cry2Ab/CaMV 35S/ Sad1 |
Insect resistance |
| Bt brinjal |
cry1Ac/CaMV 35S |
|
| Bt
cauliflower |
cry1Ac/CaMV 35S/ SRK1 |
|
| Mustard |
barnase &
barstar/CaMV 35S/ HMG |
Male sterility |
| Tomato |
osmotin/CaMV 35S/ LAT52 |
Salinity and drought
tolerance |
The diagnostic kits are reliable,
sensitive and efficient, as more than one target sequences can
be detected in a single assay, the sensitivity of the kits is
upto 0.1%. They are user friendly and would require merely 4
hours time to complete the assay from the DNA and 8-10 hours
from the plant tissue. The kits are cost effective and the cost
per assay will range from Rs. 50 to 60 only.
National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR), New Delhi,
has been designated by Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Govt.
of India as a Referral Centre for Molecular Diagnosis of
Transgenic Planting Material. |
|
