Challenges and Opportunities of GM crops

IGIDR-IFPRI Conference24-7-2014

Nagendra SinghICAR

Challenges and Opportunity of GM Crops

Outline

1. What are GM crops

2. Why Do We Need GM crops

3. Present Status of GM Crops

4. Major Programs under NARS

5. Products under Evaluation

6. The Road Ahead-Challenges

What is GM Crop Technology

Traditional Plant Breeding

Selection of superior types from variation available within that species

Limited Scope

Genes can be transferred across the species barrier

Limitless potential

Transgenic (GM) Technology

X

What is GM Crop Technology

Transgenic TechnologyPrecise

Desired

gene

Commercial variety New variety

Transformation

=

(only desired gene is transferred)

Traditional BreedingLinkage drag

Donor variety Commercial variety New variety

Desired

Gene

X=

(many genes are transferred)

Crossing

Rate of Gain in Ag. Productivity is Declining

Developing countries

World Developed countries

0

1

2

3

Pe

rce

nta

ge in

cre

ase

pe

r ye

ar

1967–1982

1982–1994

1995–2020

Why Do We Need GM?

Why Do We Need GM?

Why Do We Need GM Crops?• Productivity enhancement

• Nutritional and processing quality• Safer food-from chemical to genetic

• Designer foods• Fiber crops• Timber

• Bio-energy• Bio-fertilizer• Bio-pesticide

Global Adoption of GM Crops

India is now 2nd in global cotton production

• First GM crop released

in 2002 by Mahyco

• 11 million ha in 2011-12

• Several hundred hybrids

• 100% Yield gain

• 50% reduction in

pesticide use

• >200% increase in profit

Status of Bt-Cotton in India

India is now 2nd global cotton producer

Phases in Transgenic Development & Commercialization

Gene

Discovery

Genetic

TransformationTransgenic

Development

Evaluation

of TransgenicsMolecular

Breeding

Comme-

rcialization

• Genes

• Promoters

• Constructs

• Nuclear

• Plastid

• Events

• Genotypes

• Biosafety

• Agronomy

• Field trials

• MAS

• Variety

development

• Farmers

• Consumers

Gene

Discovery

Genetic

TransformationTransgenic

Development

Evaluation

of TransgenicsMolecular

Breeding

Comme-

rcialization

Gene

Discovery

Genetic

TransformationTransgenic

Development

Evaluation

of TransgenicsMolecular

Breeding

Comme-

rcialization

• Genes

• Promoters

• Constructs

• Nuclear

• Plastid

• Events

• Genotypes

• Biosafety

• Agronomy

• Field trials

• MAS

• Variety

development

• Farmers

• Consumers

GM Crops Time line

From Gene to GM Seeds at Farmer’s field0 10 year

Transgenics

Rice Sorghum Maize• Pod Borer Pigeon pea Chick pea• Boll worm Cotton• Fruit borer Tomato Brinjal• Aphid Brassica

. Capsule borerCastor. Insect/pestsGroundnut

Drought andsalinity stressBrassicaTomatoRiceSorghumChickpeaGroundnutPotato

Delayed ripeningTomato

Fungal resistanceRiceBanana

Virus resistanceCottonSoybeanTomatoPotatoBananaPapayaCassava

Insect/pests

Major Programs under NARSICAR- NPTC Project

RCGM contained open field trial (2006-07, 2007-08)

Bt-cotton variety Anjali carrying Bt cry 1Ac, cry 1 Aa3 genes (LRK– 516 in 2006-07)

RCGM Contained Open Field Trial (2006-07, 2007-08)

Desi cotton (G. arboreum), Cultivar RG-8-Bt carrying Bt cry 1Ac, cry 1Aa3 genes

RCGM Contained Open Field Trial of Transgenic Mustard (2005-06)

Wild Type Transgenic

Wild Type Transgenic

Osmotin gene under stress inducible promoter

Tomato variety ‘Kashi Vishesh’, incorporating DREB1A gene (right side) show enhanced drought tolerance as compared to non-GM control plants (left side). (Courtesy Dr. Major Singh, IIVR Varanasi)

Drought tolerant tomato

b c

ed

control Transgenic

trs8

trs18trs19

trs 14

trs6trs15

a

Symptoms caused by Fusarium oxysporum f.sp cubense race 1 after challenging of

transformed banana plants and untransformed plants. (a) External symptoms of

transformed banana plants

b. vascular discoloration of transgenic plants along with control treated with

Fusarium spores. b) Control plant treated with Fusarium spores. c- e) Transgenic

banana showing resistance to Fusarium wilt (Plant c to e represent -19,14 and 6)

Banana Fusarium Wilt (Fusarium oxysporum cubense)

-Sukhada Mohandas, IIHR Bangalore

Bt-BRINJAL VARIETIES with Cry 1Ac geneIIVR, UAS-D, TNAU

Transgenics Developed outside the NPTC Project

BRL II TrialPublic-private Partnership With Mahyco

ABSP II

Transgenic Golden Rice for Amelioration of Vitamin A Deficiency in Rice Eaters

30% of the Indian population is malnourished>50 % are anemic , mostly women and children

Golden RiceStability shown in GH at IRRI and field tests in the USA

Provitamin A levels 5X the original materials

Backcrossing/selection into indica rice varieties in progress

Expected release in India (2011-13)

Freedom to release needs attention

Cocordrie GR (Syngenta) Golden Rice indica background

ferritin 35S g7barGluB-1nos

Sst I Bam HI Hind III

ferritin Glo-Pnos

Sst I Bam HI Kpn I

ferritin Pro-Pnos

Sst I Bam HI Kpn I

Krishnan et al. Current Science, 2003

de-Vasconcelos et al. Plant Science 2003

High Iron and Zinc Rice

Control Transgenic

Quality Protein PotatoSeed Albumin from Amaranthus hypochondriachus

(Balanced amino acid composition)

Have added a high quality protein in Potato

RNAi for blast tolerance in rice – some of the selected putative tolerant entries (T4) in the blast screening nursery

Transgenic product development by Indian private sector

75 days after transplanting

Observation for white earheads due to YSB

Bt Rice

Herbicide tolerant cotton - Phenotypic observations at 14 days after spray

Non-Spray

Manual Weeding

1.4% Glyphosate Spray

Non transgenic line Transgenic Events

Herbicide Tolerant

Events

Herbicide Susceptible

Event

Noweeding

1. Food and Feed safety

2. Development of Super weeds

3. Loss of Soli fertility

4. Loss of genetic diversity

5. Dominance of MNCs

6. Unnatural (Moral and ethics)

Opposition to GM

Opposition to GM: Moral and Ethical Issues

Are we playing God?

Natural Stable Population: Death Rate = Birth Rate

The Population Explosion: Death Rate << Birth Rate

Choice: Aging population vs Growing population?

Role of Technology: Crucial to sustaining a growing population before it starts aging

Interspecific gene transfer:How unique are they?

Graphical representation of homology of predicted rice genes

with expressed genes in 20 other species

Action Plan

1. Bio-safety Evaluation and Regulatory Mechanism

BRAI, Role of ICAR; Bio-safety testing labs, Institute for Biosafety Bio-security, Enforce regulation, Efficient regulation, Research on resistance management; Central and state regulations, Cis-genics and INtragenics

2. Pre- and Post-release Monitoring and Evaluation of GM Crops

Mechanism for M&E in BRAI/GEAC, Accountability and violation, Impact of Bt-cotton in India

3. Accessibility of Approved GM Seeds to the Farmers

NSC, SSC, MRP, Subsidy, Seed Bill with farmer’s rights

4. Research and Development including PPP

Mission mode GM development in public sector and PPP,

Professional Bio-safety evaluation, IPR issues, Cis-genics, Orphan crops

5. Education and Public Awareness

Remove ignorance apprehension, Scientist -public integration,

Mass media electronic and print, KVK, FLD

The Road Ahead1. The NARS public institutions and Indian private sector

have shown the capability of developing useful transgenicevents but need enhanced capacity to be globallycompetitive

2. Global IPR regime makes it imperative to have our owngenes and transgenic events to make transgenic seedsaffordable to the farmers

3. R & D in frontier areas of gene discovery and transgenicdevelopment through state-of-the-art NationalInstitutions required (Genome decoding of Indian Speciesand Functional Genomics)

4. Human capital need to be developed in the frontierscientific areas including Genomics, Bioinformatics andNanobiotechnology

5. Policy issues including, efficient regulation andtechnology competitiveness need attention to facilitatecommercialization

Thank You