A universal analytical approach for screening and monitoring of authorized and unauthorized GMOs

Regulatory framework for genetically modified organisms in the Kingdom of Eswatini

The Kingdom of Eswatini is a Party to the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. As Party, Eswatini has domesticated these agreements by passing the Biosafety Act, of 2012 to provide for the safe handling, transfer, and use of living modified organisms (LMOs) in the country. The Act regulates living modified organisms to be used for confined field trials, commercial release, import, export, and transit, and for food, feed, and processing. Guidance is provided for prospective applicants before any application is made to the Competent Authority. This framework also provides for the regulation of emerging technologies such as synthetic biology and genome editing. The regulatory framework for living modified organisms aims to provide an enabling environment for the precautionary use of modern biotechnology and its products in the country in order to safeguard biological diversity and human health.

Cryptographic approaches to authenticating synthetic DNA sequences

In a bioeconomy that relies on synthetic DNA sequences, the ability to ensure their authenticity is critical. DNA watermarks can encode identifying data in short sequences and can be combined with error correction and encryption protocols to ensure that sequences are robust to errors and securely communicated. New digital signature techniques allow for public verification that a sequence has not been modified and can contain sufficient information for synthetic DNA to be self-documenting. In translating these techniques from bacteria to more complex genetically modified organisms (GMOs), special considerations must be made to allow for public verification of these products. We argue that these approaches should be widely implemented to assert authorship, increase the traceability, and detect the unauthorized use of synthetic DNA.

Applicability of a General Analytical Approach for Detection of Genetically Modified Organisms: Collaborative Trial

BACKGROUND

With the commercialization of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in the market, laboratories have undergone a significantly increased workload. A universal analytical approach was designed to achieve cost-efficient and high-throughput GMOs screening with high specificity and accuracy. The approach provides accurate qualification of authorized and unauthorized GMOs.

OBJECTIVE

This paper describes the assessment of this analytical approach developed to detect majority of commercialized GMOs over the world.

METHODS

Seven elements and three events were detected by qPCR in a single laboratory to detect 59 commercialized GMOs. Certificated reference materials and food/feed samples from Chinese market were also evaluated for the specificity, conformity and robustness of this approach and were challenged in the inter-laboratory study.

RESULTS

The results showed that elements and events selected can best detect GMO presence with good specificity and sensitivity. The results showed a concordance between 97.5% and 99.56% and the variance between 0.65% and 12.88%, which is in line with the minimum requirement of analytical methods of GMO testing.

CONCLUSION

The approach validated here can be used to manipulate GMO presence in food and feed and showed the capacity to manipulate GMOs trace in the trade and domestic agriculture grocery in China.

HIGHLIGHTS

A universal analytical approach used to track GMO presence was evaluated for its specificity, sensitivity and robustness.

GmoDetector: An accurate and efficient GMO identification approach and its applications

The rapid increase of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) entering the food and feed markets, and the contamination of donor (micro)organisms of transgenic elements make it more challenging for the existing GMO detection. In this study, we developed a high-throughput and contamination-removal GMO detection approach named as GmoDetector. GmoDetector targeted 64 common transgenic elements and 76 GMO-specific events collected from 251 singular GM events, and combined with next generation sequencing (NGS) and target enrichment technology to detect various GMOs. As a result, GmoDetector was able to exclude the donor (micro)organism contamination, and detect the authorized and unauthorized GMOs (UGMOs) in any forms of food or feed, such as processed or unprocessed. The sensitivity of GmoDetector is as low as 0.1% (GMO content), which has met the GMO labeling threshold for all countries. Therefore, GmoDetector is a robust tool for accurate and efficient detection of the authorized and UGMOs.

Challenges Using Droplet Digital PCR for Environmental Samples

Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction (ddPCR) is a method used to detect and quantify nucleic acids even when present in exceptionally low numbers. While it has proven to be valuable for clinical studies, it has failed to be widely adopted for environmental studies but despite some limitations, ddPCR may represent a better option than classical qPCR for environmental samples. Due to the complexity of the chemical and biological composition of environmental samples, protocols tailored to clinical studies are not appropriate, and results are difficult to interpret. We used environmental DNA samples originating from field studies to determine a protocol for environmental samples. Samples included field soils which had been inoculated with the soil fungus Rhizophagus irregularis (environmental positive control), field soils that had not been inoculated and the targeted fungus was not naturally present (environmental negative control), and root samples from both field categories. To control for the effect of soil inhibitors, we also included DNA samples of an organismal control extracted from pure fungal spores (organismal positive control). Finally, we included a no-template control consisting only of the PCR reaction reagents and nuclease free water instead of template DNA. Using original data, we examined which factors contribute to poor resolution in root and soil samples and propose best practices to ensure accuracy and repeatability. Furthermore, we evaluated manual and automatic threshold determination methods and we propose a novel protocol based on multiple controls that is more appropriate for environmental samples.