Dicamba-Tolerant Soybeans (Glycine max L.) MON 87708 and MON 87708 × MON 89788 Are Compositionally Equivalent to Conventional Soybean

Herbicide-tolerant crops can expand both tools for and timing of weed control strategies. MON 87708 soybean has been developed through genetic modification and confers tolerance to the dicamba herbicide. As part of the safety assessment conducted for new genetically modified (GM) crop varieties, a compositional assessment of MON 87708 was performed. Levels of key soybean nutrients and anti-nutrients in harvested MON 87708 were compared to levels of those components in a closely related non-GM variety as well as to levels measured in other conventional soybean varieties. From this analysis, MON 87708 was shown to be compositionally equivalent to its comparator. A similar analysis conducted for a stacked trait product produced by conventional breeding, MON 87708 × MON 89788, which confers tolerance to both dicamba and glyphosate herbicides, reached the same conclusion. These results are consistent with other results that demonstrate no compositional impact of genetic modification, except in those cases where an impact was an intended outcome

Application of ¹H NMR Profiling To Assess Seed Metabolomic Diversity. A Case Study on a Soybean Era Population

¹H NMR spectroscopy offers advantages in metabolite quantitation and platform robustness when applied in food metabolomics studies. This paper provides a ¹H NMR-based assessment of seed metabolomic diversity in conventional and glyphosate-resistant genetically modified (GM) soybean from a genetic lineage representing ∼35 years of breeding and differing yield potential. ¹H NMR profiling of harvested seed allowed quantitation of 27 metabolites, including free amino acids, sugars, and organic acids, as well as choline, <i>O</i>-acetylcholine, dimethylamine, trigonelline, and <i>p</i>-cresol. Data were analyzed by canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and principal variance component analysis (PVCA). Results demonstrated that ¹H NMR spectroscopy was effective in highlighting variation in metabolite levels in the genetically diverse sample set presented. The results also confirmed that metabolite variability is influenced by selective breeding and environment, but not genetic modification. Therefore, metabolite variability is an integral part of crop improvement that has occurred for decades and is associated with a history of safe use

Application of ¹H NMR Profiling To Assess Seed Metabolomic Diversity. A Case Study on a Soybean Era Population

¹H NMR spectroscopy offers advantages in metabolite quantitation and platform robustness when applied in food metabolomics studies. This paper provides a ¹H NMR-based assessment of seed metabolomic diversity in conventional and glyphosate-resistant genetically modified (GM) soybean from a genetic lineage representing ∼35 years of breeding and differing yield potential. ¹H NMR profiling of harvested seed allowed quantitation of 27 metabolites, including free amino acids, sugars, and organic acids, as well as choline, <i>O</i>-acetylcholine, dimethylamine, trigonelline, and <i>p</i>-cresol. Data were analyzed by canonical discriminant analysis (CDA) and principal variance component analysis (PVCA). Results demonstrated that ¹H NMR spectroscopy was effective in highlighting variation in metabolite levels in the genetically diverse sample set presented. The results also confirmed that metabolite variability is influenced by selective breeding and environment, but not genetic modification. Therefore, metabolite variability is an integral part of crop improvement that has occurred for decades and is associated with a history of safe use