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THE CULTIVATION AND CONSUMPTION OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS HAS REMAINED HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL DUE TO THE EFFECTS THESE CROPS AND THEIR ENGINEERED GENES CAN HAVE ON THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT, PARTICULARLY THE RISK OF GENE TRANSFER TO SOIL MICROBES. HOWEVER, A CRITICAL RESEARCH GAP EXISTS CONCERNING THE TRANSLATION OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA TO PREDICTIVE RISK ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS THAT CAN BE UTILIZED BY MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDER GROUPS ACROSS LOCAL AND NATIONAL SCALES. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL ADDRESS THIS GAP BY PERFORMING ITERATIVE AND INTERCONNECTED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS COUPLED WITH MODELING ASSESSMENTS OF TRANSGENE BEHAVIOR IN SOILS. BACTERIAL UPTAKE OF TRANSGENES HAS SEVERAL CRITICAL COMPONENTS THAT MUST BE THOROUGHLY ASSESSED TO OBTAIN AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF ECOLOGICAL RISK. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE BEHAVIOR AND TRANSPORT OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENES AND RNA-BASED SILENCING GENES RELEASED FROM GENETICALLY ENGINEERED APPLE AND POTATO CROPS. TO DATE, AT LEAST 16 GE CROPS HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO CONTAIN SILENCING TRANSGENES AND MORE THAN 130 CROPS ARE KNOWN TO CONTAIN AT LEAST ONE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENE--INCLUDING TOMATO, ALFALFA, APPLE, SOY, SAFFLOWER, POTATO, AND TOBACCO. DESPITE THEIR REGULATORY APPROVAL, SIGNIFICANT CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS THE USE OF THESE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENES AND GENE SILENCING MECHANISMS REGARDING THEIR LONG-TERM IMPACTS ON THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT.THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE FATE OF GE CROP TRANSGENES IN SOILS AND FOLLOW THEIR TRANSFER TO MICROBES USING ITERATIVE LABORATORY AND MODELING-BASED EXPERIMENTS. THE GUIDING HYPOTHESIS FOR THIS RESEARCH IS THAT TRANSGENES ARE PERSISTENT AND MOTILE IN SOILS, AND HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER CAN OCCUR IF THE CONDITIONS ARE OPTIMAL FOR BACTERIAL UPTAKE. TO THIS END, THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL USE A COMBINED MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH FOR EACH RESEARCH TASK THAT ASSESSES THESE PHENOMENA AT BOTH SMALL AND LARGE SCALES. UNDERSTANDING THE FACTORS CONTROLLING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROP TRANSGENE TRANSPORT AND UPTAKE IN SOILS IS ESSENTIAL FOR A RANGE OF TRANSFORMATIVE DISCOVERIES IN AGRICULTURE, POLICY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT. THIS IS A CRITICAL DEPARTURE FROM EXISTING RESEARCH EFFORTS INTO GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROP GENE DISPERSAL, WHICH ARE PRIMARILY DESCRIPTIVE IN NATURE. THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WITH THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 3 OUTLINED BY THE USDA BRAG PROGRAM ("GENE TRANSFER BETWEEN GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMALS, PLANTS, AND MICROORGANISMS AND RELATED WILD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISMS").

$499,513FY2019National Institute of Food and AgricultureUSDA

Washington State University, Pullman WA

Investigators

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THE CULTIVATION AND CONSUMPTION OF GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS HAS REMAINED HIGHLY CONTROVERSIAL DUE TO THE EFFECTS THESE CROPS AND THEIR ENGINEERED GENES CAN HAVE ON THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT, PARTICULARLY THE RISK OF GENE TRANSFER TO SOIL MICROBES. HOWEVER, A CRITICAL RESEARCH GAP EXISTS CONCERNING THE TRANSLATION OF EXPERIMENTAL DATA TO PREDICTIVE RISK ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS THAT CAN BE UTILIZED BY MULTIPLE STAKEHOLDER GROUPS ACROSS LOCAL AND NATIONAL SCALES. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL ADDRESS THIS GAP BY PERFORMING ITERATIVE AND INTERCONNECTED LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS COUPLED WITH MODELING ASSESSMENTS OF TRANSGENE BEHAVIOR IN SOILS. BACTERIAL UPTAKE OF TRANSGENES HAS SEVERAL CRITICAL COMPONENTS THAT MUST BE THOROUGHLY ASSESSED TO OBTAIN AN ACCURATE ASSESSMENT OF ECOLOGICAL RISK. THIS RESEARCH PROJECT WILL DETERMINE THE BEHAVIOR AND TRANSPORT OF ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENES AND RNA-BASED SILENCING GENES RELEASED FROM GENETICALLY ENGINEERED APPLE AND POTATO CROPS. TO DATE, AT LEAST 16 GE CROPS HAVE BEEN DETERMINED TO CONTAIN SILENCING TRANSGENES AND MORE THAN 130 CROPS ARE KNOWN TO CONTAIN AT LEAST ONE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENE--INCLUDING TOMATO, ALFALFA, APPLE, SOY, SAFFLOWER, POTATO, AND TOBACCO. DESPITE THEIR REGULATORY APPROVAL, SIGNIFICANT CONTROVERSY SURROUNDS THE USE OF THESE ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANCE GENES AND GENE SILENCING MECHANISMS REGARDING THEIR LONG-TERM IMPACTS ON THE SURROUNDING ENVIRONMENT.THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE PROPOSED RESEARCH IS TO DETERMINE THE FATE OF GE CROP TRANSGENES IN SOILS AND FOLLOW THEIR TRANSFER TO MICROBES USING ITERATIVE LABORATORY AND MODELING-BASED EXPERIMENTS. THE GUIDING HYPOTHESIS FOR THIS RESEARCH IS THAT TRANSGENES ARE PERSISTENT AND MOTILE IN SOILS, AND HORIZONTAL GENE TRANSFER CAN OCCUR IF THE CONDITIONS ARE OPTIMAL FOR BACTERIAL UPTAKE. TO THIS END, THE RESEARCH TEAM WILL USE A COMBINED MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH FOR EACH RESEARCH TASK THAT ASSESSES THESE PHENOMENA AT BOTH SMALL AND LARGE SCALES. UNDERSTANDING THE FACTORS CONTROLLING GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROP TRANSGENE TRANSPORT AND UPTAKE IN SOILS IS ESSENTIAL FOR A RANGE OF TRANSFORMATIVE DISCOVERIES IN AGRICULTURE, POLICY, AND THE ENVIRONMENT. THIS IS A CRITICAL DEPARTURE FROM EXISTING RESEARCH EFFORTS INTO GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROP GENE DISPERSAL, WHICH ARE PRIMARILY DESCRIPTIVE IN NATURE. THIS PROJECT ALIGNS WITH THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 3 OUTLINED BY THE USDA BRAG PROGRAM ("GENE TRANSFER BETWEEN GENETICALLY ENGINEERED ANIMALS, PLANTS, AND MICROORGANISMS AND RELATED WILD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANISMS"). · GrantIndex