The research group of Biotechnology Research Institute of Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences analyzed the impact of gene stacking on transcriptome and metabolomics of maize. The related paper was recently published in Plant Journal.
    In this paper, stacked transgenic maize 12-5×IE034 that contained insecticidal cry and glyphosate tolerance G10-epsps genes was obtained by crossing of transgenic maize varieties 12-5 and IE034. Transcriptome and metabolome analyses were performed for different maize varieties, including 12-5×IE034, 12-5, IE034, and conventional varieties collected from different province in China. The results showed that the 9 maize varieties had obvious difference in gene expression, and the effects of hybrid stacking are less than those from transformation and differing genotypes.
    Gene stacking is a developing trend in agricultural biotechnology. Unintended effects in stacked transgenic plants are safety issues considered by the public and researchers. This paper provides scientific data for the assessing unintended effects in stacked transgenic plants.
    This work was supported by grants from the Major Project of China on New Varieties of GMO Cultivation (2012zx08011-003, 2014ZX08011-04B). Professor Wang Zhixing and associate professor Wang Xujing of Biotechnology Research Institute are the corresponding author and the first author of this paper respectively. More details can be found in the link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tpj.13825/full

by Wang Xujing
wangxujing@caas.cn