Genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs): strategies to impede transgene movement

Advances and Perspectives in Tissue Culture and Genetic Engineering of Cannabis

For a long time, Cannabis sativa has been used for therapeutic and industrial purposes. Due to its increasing demand in medicine, recreation, and industry, there is a dire need to apply new biotechnological tools to introduce new genotypes with desirable traits and enhanced secondary metabolite production. Micropropagation, conservation, cell suspension culture, hairy root culture, polyploidy manipulation, and Agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation have been studied and used in cannabis. However, some obstacles such as the low rate of transgenic plant regeneration and low efficiency of secondary metabolite production in hairy root culture and cell suspension culture have restricted the application of these approaches in cannabis. In the current review, in vitro culture and genetic engineering methods in cannabis along with other promising techniques such as morphogenic genes, new computational approaches, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR), CRISPR/Cas9-equipped Agrobacterium-mediated genome editing, and hairy root culture, that can help improve gene transformation and plant regeneration, as well as enhance secondary metabolite production, have been highlighted and discussed.

Next-generation biocontainment systems for engineered organisms

The increasing use of engineered organisms for industrial, clinical, and environmental applications poses a growing risk of spreading hazardous biological entities into the environment. To address this biosafety issue, significant effort has been invested in creating ways to confine these organisms and transgenic materials. Emerging technologies in synthetic biology involving genetic circuit engineering, genome editing, and gene expression regulation have led to the development of novel biocontainment systems. In this perspective, we highlight recent advances in biocontainment and suggest a number of approaches for future development, which may be applied to overcome remaining challenges in safeguard implementation.

Engineered selective plant male sterility through pollen-specific expression of the EcoRI restriction endonuclease

Unintended gene flow from transgenic plants via pollen, seed and vegetative propagation is a regulatory concern because of potential admixture in food and crop systems, as well as hybridization and introgression to wild and weedy relatives. Bioconfinement of transgenic pollen would help address some of these concerns and enable transgenic plant production for several crops where gene flow is an issue. Here, we demonstrate the expression of the restriction endonuclease EcoRI under the control of the tomato pollen-specific LAT52 promoter is an effective method for generating selective male sterility in Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). Of nine transgenic events recovered, four events had very high bioconfinement with tightly controlled EcoRI expression in pollen and negligible-to-no expression other plant tissues. Transgenic plants had normal morphology wherein vegetative growth and reproductivity were similar to nontransgenic controls. In glasshouse experiments, transgenic lines were hand-crossed to both male-sterile and emasculated nontransgenic tobacco varieties. Progeny analysis of 16 000-40 000 seeds per transgenic line demonstrated five lines approached (>99.7%) or attained 100% bioconfinement for one or more generations. Bioconfinement was again demonstrated at or near 100% under field conditions where four transgenic lines were grown in close proximity to male-sterile tobacco, and 900-2100 seeds per male-sterile line were analysed for transgenes. Based upon these results, we conclude EcoRI-driven selective male sterility holds practical potential as a safe and reliable transgene bioconfinement strategy. Given the mechanism of male sterility, this method could be applicable to any plant species.

Creating Completely Both Male and Female Sterile Plants by Specifically Ablating Microspore and Megaspore Mother Cells

Although genetically modified (GM) plants have improved commercially important traits, such as biomass and biofuel production, digestibility, bioremediation, ornamental value, and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses, there remain economic, political, or social concerns over potential ecological effects of transgene flow from GM plants. The current solution for preventing transgene flow from GM plants is genetically engineering sterility; however, approaches to generating both male and female sterility are limited. In addition, existing strategies for creating sterility lead to loss or modifications of entire flowers or floral organs. Here, we demonstrate that instead of the 1.5-kb promoter, the entire SOLO DANCERS (SDS) gene is required for its meiocyte-specific expression. We then developed an efficient method to specifically ablate microspore and megaspore mother cells using the SDS and BARNASE fusion gene, which resulted in complete sterility in both male and female reproductive organs in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) and tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), but did not affect plant growth or development, including the formation of all flower organs. Therefore, our research provides a general and effective tool to prevent transgene flow in GM plants.

Dealing with transgene flow of crop protection traits from crops to their relatives

Genes regularly move within species, to/from crops, as well as to their con- specific progenitors, feral and weedy forms ('vertical' gene flow). Genes occasionally move to/from crops and their distantly related, hardly sexually interbreeding relatives, within a genus or among closely related genera (diagonal gene flow). Regulators have singled out transgene flow as an issue, yet non-transgenic herbicide resistance traits pose equal problems, which cannot be mitigated. The risks are quite different from genes flowing to natural (wild) ecosystems versus ruderal and agroecosystems. Transgenic herbicide resistance poses a major risk if introgressed into weedy relatives; disease and insect resistance less so. Technologies have been proposed to contain genes within crops (chloroplast transformation, male sterility) that imperfectly prevent gene flow by pollen to the wild. Containment does not prevent related weeds from pollinating crops. Repeated backcrossing with weeds as pollen parents results in gene establishment in the weeds. Transgenic mitigation relies on coupling crop protection traits in a tandem construct with traits that lower the fitness of the related weeds. Mitigation traits can be morphological (dwarfing, no seed shatter) or chemical (sensitivity to a chemical used later in a rotation). Tandem mitigation traits are genetically linked and will move together. Mitigation traits can also be spread by inserting them in multicopy transposons which disperse faster than the crop protection genes in related weeds. Thus, there are gene flow risks mainly to weeds from some crop protection traits; risks that can and should be dealt with.

A double built-in containment strategy for production of recombinant proteins in transgenic rice

Using transgenic rice as a bioreactor for mass production of pharmaceutical proteins could potentially reduce the cost of production significantly. However, a major concern over the bioreactor transgenic rice is the risk of its unintended spreading into environment and into food or feed supplies. Here we report a mitigating method to prevent unwanted transgenic rice spreading by a double built-in containment strategy, which sets a selectively termination method and a visual tag technology in the T-DNA for transformation. We created transgenic rice with an inserted T-DNA that harbors a human proinsulin gene fused with the far-red fluorescent protein gene mKate_S158A, an RNAi cassette suppressing the expression of the rice bentazon detoxification enzyme CYP81A6, and an EPSPS gene as the selection marker for transformation. Herbicide spray tests indicated that such transgenic rice plants can be killed selectively by a spray of bentazon at regular field application dosage for rice weed control. Moreover, the transgenic rice seeds were bright red in color due to the fused far-red fluorescent protein, and could be easily visualized under daylight by naked eyes. Thus, the transgenic rice plants reported in this study could be selectively killed by a commonly used herbicide during their growth stage, and their seeds may be detected visually during processing and consumption after harvest. This double built-in containment strategy may greatly enhance the confinement of the transgenic rice.

Genetic use restriction technologies: a review

Genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs), developed to secure return on investments through protection of plant varieties, are among the most controversial and opposed genetic engineering biotechnologies as they are perceived as a tool to force farmers to depend on multinational corporations' seed monopolies. In this work, the currently proposed strategies are described and compared with some of the principal techniques implemented for preventing transgene flow and/or seed saving, with a simultaneous analysis of the future perspectives of GURTs taking into account potential benefits, possible impacts on farmers and local plant genetic resources (PGR), hypothetical negative environmental issues and ethical concerns related to intellectual property that have led to the ban of this technology.

A built-in strategy to mitigate transgene spreading from genetically modified corn

Transgene spreading is a major concern in cultivating genetically modified (GM) corn. Cross-pollination may cause the spread of transgenes from GM cornfields to conventional fields. Occasionally, seed lot contamination, volunteers, mixing during sowing, harvest, and trade can also lead to transgene escape. Obviously, new biological confinement technologies are highly desired to mitigate transgene spreading in addition to physical separation and isolation methods. In this study, we report the development of a built-in containment method to mitigate transgene spreading in corn. In this method, an RNAi cassette for suppressing the expression of the nicosulfuron detoxifying enzyme CYP81A9 and an expression cassette for the glyphosate tolerant 5-enolpyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS) gene G10 were constructed and transformed into corn via Agrobacterium-mediated transformation. The GM corn plants that were generated were found to be sensitive to nicosulfuron but resistant to glyphosate, which is exactly the opposite of conventional corn. Field tests demonstrated that GM corn plants with silenced CYP81A9 could be killed by applying nicosulfuron at 40 g/ha, which is the recommended dose for weed control in cornfields. This study suggests that this built-in containment method for controlling the spread of corn transgenes is effective and easy to implement.

Gene use restriction technologies for transgenic plant bioconfinement

The advances of modern plant technologies, especially genetically modified crops, are considered to be a substantial benefit to agriculture and society. However, so-called transgene escape remains and is of environmental and regulatory concern. Genetic use restriction technologies (GURTs) provide a possible solution to prevent transgene dispersal. Although GURTs were originally developed as a way for intellectual property protection (IPP), we believe their maximum benefit could be in the prevention of gene flow, that is, bioconfinement. This review describes the underlying signal transduction and components necessary to implement any GURT system. Furthermore, we review the similarities and differences between IPP- and bioconfinement-oriented GURTs, discuss the GURTs' design for impeding transgene escape and summarize recent advances. Lastly, we go beyond the state of the science to speculate on regulatory and ecological effects of implementing GURTs for bioconfinement.

Growth of transplastomic cells expressing D-amino acid oxidase in chloroplasts is tolerant to D-alanine and inhibited by D-valine

Dual-conditional positive/negative selection markers are versatile genetic tools for manipulating genomes. Plastid genomes are relatively small and conserved DNA molecules that can be manipulated precisely by homologous recombination. High-yield expression of recombinant products and maternal inheritance of plastid-encoded traits make plastids attractive sites for modification. Here, we describe the cloning and expression of a dao gene encoding D-amino acid oxidase from Schizosaccharomyces pombe in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) plastids. The results provide genetic evidence for the uptake of D-amino acids into plastids, which contain a target that is inhibited by D-alanine. Importantly, this nonantibiotic-based selection system allows the use of cheap and widely available D-amino acids, which are relatively nontoxic to animals and microbes, to either select against (D-valine) or for (D-alanine) cells containing transgenic plastids. Positive/negative selection with d-amino acids was effective in vitro and against transplastomic seedlings grown in soil. The dual functionality of dao is highly suited to the polyploid plastid compartment, where it can be used to provide tolerance against potential D-alanine-based herbicides, control the timing of recombination events such as marker excision, influence the segregation of transgenic plastid genomes, identify loci affecting dao function in mutant screens, and develop D-valine-based methods to manage the spread of transgenic plastids tagged with dao.

An evolutionarily conserved mitochondrial orf108 is associated with cytoplasmic male sterility in different alloplasmic lines of Brassica juncea and induces male sterility in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana

Nuclear-mitochondrial gene interactions governing cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) in angiosperms have been found to be unique to each system. Fertility restoration of three diverse alloplasmic CMS lines of Brassica juncea by a line carrying the fertility-restorer gene introgressed from Moricandia arvensis prompted this investigation to examine the molecular basis of CMS in these lines. Since previous studies had found altered atpA transcription associated with CMS in these lines, the atpA genes and transcripts of CMS, fertility-restored, and euplasmic lines were cloned and compared. atpA coding and downstream sequences were conserved among CMS and euplasmic lines but major differences were found in the 5' flanking sequences of atpA. A unique open reading frame (ORF), orf108, co-transcribed with atpA, was found in male sterile flowers of CMS lines carrying mitochondrial genomes of Diplotaxis berthautii, D. catholica, or D. erucoides. In presence of the restorer gene, the bicistronic orf108-atpA transcript was cleaved within orf108 to yield a monocistronic atpA transcript. Transgenic expression of orf108 with anther-specific Atprx18 promoter in Arabidopsis thaliana gave 50% pollen sterility, indicating that Orf108 is lethal at the gametophytic stage. Further, lack of transmission of orf108 to the progeny showed for the first time that mitochondrial ORFs could also cause female sterility. orf108 was found to be widely distributed among wild relatives of Brassica, indicating its ancient origin. This is the first report that shows that CMS lines of different origin and morphology could share common molecular basis. The gametic lethality of Orf108 offers a novel opportunity for transgene containment.

Synthetic biology: mapping the scientific landscape

This article uses data from Thomson Reuters Web of Science to map and analyse the scientific landscape for synthetic biology. The article draws on recent advances in data visualisation and analytics with the aim of informing upcoming international policy debates on the governance of synthetic biology by the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. We use mapping techniques to identify how synthetic biology can best be understood and the range of institutions, researchers and funding agencies involved. Debates under the Convention are likely to focus on a possible moratorium on the field release of synthetic organisms, cells or genomes. Based on the empirical evidence we propose that guidance could be provided to funding agencies to respect the letter and spirit of the Convention on Biological Diversity in making research investments. Building on the recommendations of the United States Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues we demonstrate that it is possible to promote independent and transparent monitoring of developments in synthetic biology using modern information tools. In particular, public and policy understanding and engagement with synthetic biology can be enhanced through the use of online interactive tools. As a step forward in this process we make existing data on the scientific literature on synthetic biology available in an online interactive workbook so that researchers, policy makers and civil society can explore the data and draw conclusions for themselves.

Advances in plant molecular farming

Plant molecular farming (PMF) is a new branch of plant biotechnology, where plants are engineered to produce recombinant pharmaceutical and industrial proteins in large quantities. As an emerging subdivision of the biopharmaceutical industry, PMF is still trying to gain comparable social acceptance as the already established production systems that produce these high valued proteins in microbial, yeast, or mammalian expression systems. This article reviews the various cost-effective technologies and strategies, which are being developed to improve yield and quality of the plant-derived pharmaceuticals, thereby making plant-based production system suitable alternatives to the existing systems. It also attempts to overview the different novel plant-derived pharmaceuticals and non-pharmaceutical protein products that are at various stages of clinical development or commercialization. It then discusses the biosafety and regulatory issues, which are crucial (if strictly adhered to) to eliminating potential health and environmental risks, which in turn is necessary to earning favorable public perception, thus ensuring the success of the industry.

Gene flow, invasiveness, and ecological impact of genetically modified crops

The main environmental concerns about genetically modified (GM) crops are the potential weediness or invasiveness in the crop itself or in its wild or weedy relatives as a result of transgene movement. Here we briefly review evidence for pollen- and seed-mediated gene flow from GM crops to non-GM or other GM crops and to wild relatives. The report focuses on the effect of abiotic and biotic stress-tolerance traits on plant fitness and their potential to increase weedy or invasive tendencies. An evaluation of weediness and invasive traits that contribute to the success of agricultural weeds and invasive plants was of limited value in predicting the effect of biotic and abiotic stress-tolerance GM traits, suggesting context-specific evaluation rather than generalizations. Fitness data on herbicide, insect, and disease resistance, as well as cold-, drought-, and salinity-tolerance traits, are reviewed. We describe useful ecological models predicting the effects of gene flow and altered fitness in GM crops and wild/weedy relatives, as well as suitable mitigation measures. A better understanding of factors controlling population size, dynamics, and range limits in weedy volunteer GM crop and related host or target weed populations is necessary before the effect of biotic and abiotic stress-tolerance GM traits can be fully assessed.

Fine-scale geographical structure of genetic diversity in inland wild beet populations

Introgression arising from crop-to-wild gene flow provides novel sources of genetic variation in plant species complexes. Hybridization within the Beta vulgaris species complex is of immediate concern; crop lineages (B. vulgaris ssp. vulgaris) hybridize easily with their wild relatives (B. vulgaris ssp. maritima) thereby threatening wild beet gene diversity with genetic swamping. Hybridization 'hotspots' occur in European seed production areas because inland ruderal wild beets occur and reproduce in sympatry with cultivated beets. We studied gene flow occurring between seed-producing cultivars and ruderal wild B. vulgaris in southwestern France to determine whether feral beets, arising from unharvested cultivated seed, represent an opportunity for crop-to-wild gene flow. We surveyed 42 inland ruderal beet populations located near seed production fields for nucleo-cytoplasmic variation and used a cytoplasmic marker diagnostic of cultivated lines. Occurrence of cultivated-type cytoplasm within ruderal populations clearly reflected events of crop seed escape. However, we found no genetic signatures of nuclear cultivated gene introgression, which suggests past introgression of cultivated cytoplasm into a wild nuclear background through seed escape rather than recent direct pollen flow. Overall, patterns of genetic structure suggested that inland ruderal wild beet populations act as a metapopulation, with founding events involving a few sib groups, followed by low rates of seed or pollen gene flow after populations are established. Altogether, our results indicate that a long-lived seed bank plays a key role in maintaining cultivated-type cytoplasm in the wild and highlight the need for careful management of seed production areas where wild and cultivated relatives co-occur.

Intein-mediated protein assembly in transgenic wheat: production of active barnase and acetolactate synthase from split genes

Engineering traits by the assembly of non-functional gene products is a promising tool for modern plant biotechnology. In this article, we describe the establishment of male sterility and herbicide resistance in wheat (Triticum aestivum) by complementing inactive precursor protein fragments through a split intein system. N- and C-terminal fragments of a barnase gene from Bacillus amyloliquifaciens were fused to intein sequences from the Synechocystis sp. gene DnaB and delivered into the wheat genome via biolistic particle bombardment. Both barnase fragments were expressed under the control of a tapetum-specific promoter. High efficiency of the split barnase system was achieved by introducing GGGGS linkers between the fusion domains of the assembled protein. Depending on the vector version that was transformed, up to 51% of primary transformed plants produced sterile pollen. In the F(1) progeny, the male-sterile phenotype segregated with both barnase gene fragments. Expression of the cytotoxic barnase in the tapetum did not apparently affect the vegetative phenotype and remained stable under increased temperatures. In addition, the reconstitution of sulphonylurea resistance was achieved by DnaE intein-mediated assembly of a mutated acetolactate synthase (ALS) protein from rice. The impacts of the technical advances revealed in this study on the concepts for trait control, transgene containment and hybrid breeding are discussed.

Impact of transgene inheritance on the mitigation of gene flow between crops and their wild relatives: the example of foxtail millet

Developing genetically modified crop plants that are biologically contained could reduce significantly the potential spread of transgenes to conventional and organic crop plants and to wild or weedy relatives. Among several strategies, the hereditary mode of transmission of transgenes, whether dominant, recessive, or maternal, could play a major role in interspecific gene flow. Here we report on the gene flow between foxtail millet (Setaria italica), an autogamous crop, and its weedy relative, S. viridis, growing within or beside fields containing the three kinds of inherited herbicide resistance. Over the 6-year study, in the absence of herbicide selection, the maternal chloroplast-inherited resistance was observed at a 2 x 10(-6) frequency in the weed populations. Resistant weed plants were observed 60 times as often, at 1.2 x 10(-4) in the case of the nuclear recessive resistance, and 190 times as often, at 3.9 x 10(-4) in the case of the dominant resistance. Because the recessive gene was not expressed in the first-generation hybrids, it should be more effective than dominant genes in reducing gene flow under normal agricultural conditions where herbicides are sprayed because interspecific hybrids cannot gain from beneficial genes.

Detecting and quantifying the adventitious presence of transgenic seeds in safflower, Carthamus tinctorius L

Safflower ( Carthamus tinctorius L.) is currently being developed as a platform for the production of novel proteins. Methods for detecting and quantifying transgenic safflower are needed to ensure seed quality and to monitor for its adventitious presence. We developed and compared three methods of assaying for transgenic safflower presence in conventional seedlots: field bioassays, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (Q-PCR). Limits for reliable quantification for both ELISA and Q-PCR are approximately 0.1%, although levels at least as low as 0.02% can be detected by Q-PCR. Levels of quantification for the field bioassay are limited only by space and resources available. Multiple sampling methods to detect and quantify transgenic safflower presence at levels lower than 0.1% were used on field collected samples from a pollen outcrossing experiment to quantify the adventitious presence of transgenic safflower. Taking into account the potential utility and relative advantages or disadvantages of each detection method, it is recommended that the initial testing for the adventitious presence of transgenic seed be carried out using an antibody-based test if available and that Q-PCR-based assays to quantify transgenic proportion be used when it is necessary to identify specific transgenic constructs or if antibody-based assays are not readily available.

Transgenic plants for phytoremediation: helping nature to clean up environmental pollution

Phytoremediation is the use of plants to clean up environmental pollution. However, detoxification of organic pollutants by plants is often slow, leading to the accumulation of toxic compounds that could be later released into the environment. A recent publication by Doty and colleagues describes the development of transgenic poplars (Populus) overexpressing a mammalian cytochrome P450, a family of enzymes commonly involved in the metabolism of toxic compounds. The engineered plants showed enhanced performance with regards to the metabolism of trichloroethylene and the removal of a range of other toxic volatile organic pollutants, including vinyl chloride, carbon tetrachloride, chloroform and benzene. This work suggests that transgenic plants might be able to contribute to the wider and safer application of phytoremediation.