Argentina’s local crop biotechnology developments: why have they not reached the market yet?

Plant biotechnology in Argentina started at the end of the 1980s, leading to the development of numerous research groups in public institutions and, a decade later, to some local private initiatives. The numerous scientific and technological capacities existing in the country allowed the early constitution in 1991 of a sound genetically modified organisms biosafety regulatory system. The first commercial approvals began in 1996, and to date, 59 events have obtained permits to be placed on the market, however, only two have been developed locally by public-private partnerships. The transgenic events developed at public institutions pursue different objectives in diverse crops. However, once these events have been developed in laboratories, it is difficult to move toward a possible commercial approval. In this work, we analyze several reasons that could explain why local developments have not reached approvals for commercialization, highlighting aspects related to the lack of strategic vision in the institutions to focus resources on projects to develop biotechnological products. Although progress has been made in generating regulatory rules adapted to research institutes (such as the regulations for biosafety greenhouses and ways of presenting applications), researchers still do not conceive regulatory science as a discipline. They generally prefer not to be involved in the design of regulatory field trials or regulatory issues related to the evaluation of events. In that sense, some of the aspects considered a regulatory affairs platform for the public scientific system and the reinforcement of laboratories that perform tests required under the Argentine regulation.Instituto de GenéticaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Vicien, Carmen. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía; Argentin

Estudios regulatorios para las evaluaciones de riesgo de los cultivos transgénicos : un análisis preliminar

Los desarrollos tecnológicos vinculados con los organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM) hicieron necesaria la implementación de sistemas regulatorios destinados a garantizar la seguridad ambiental y la aptitud alimentaria. Datos útiles y de calidad adecuada son cruciales para la realización de los análisis de riesgo y como base para la decisión adoptada por las autoridades regulatorias, en las autorizaciones de la comercialización del material genéticamente modificado (GM). En este trabajo se presentan los resultados preliminares del análisis de un relevamiento efectuado a referentes del sector público y privado involucrados en diferentes aspectos del desarrollo de materiales vegetales GM acerca de los estudios regulatorios necesarios para la evaluación de estos materiales, en particular, las metodologías para garantizar la calidad e integridad de los datos, la estandarización de los ensayos, su financiamiento, las capacidades locales para realizar los estudios y el estado de algunas normas internacionales. Al respecto, un aspecto central es el de la armonización de los estándares de aseguramiento de la calidad de los datos regulatorios (tanto en laboratorio como en los ensayos confinados a campo), pues simplificaría la tarea en la conformación de los “paquetes” regulatorios. Esto contribuiría además a aumentar el grado de aceptación del conjunto de estudios regulatorios a ser presentados ante las autoridades de terceros países. Se trata de cuestiones de particular interés por su impacto en los costos del desarrollo de los productos GM, particularmente en el caso de las pequeñas y medianas empresas locales y de instituciones de investigación del sistema científico en Argentina.Developments related to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) made it necessary to implement regulatory systems aimed at guaranteeing environmental and food safety. Useful data of adequate quality are crucial for the performance of risk analyzes and ultimately as the basis for the decision taken by regulatory authorities, in the authorizations of the commercialization of genetically modified (GM) material. This work presents the preliminary results of the analysis of a survey carried out on public and private sector referents involved in different aspects of the development of GM plant materials about the regulatory studies necessary for the evaluation of transgenic materials, in particular, the methodologies to guarantee the quality and integrity of the data, the standardization of the trials, their financing, local capacities to conduct studies and the status of some international norms. In this regard, a central aspect is the harmonization of quality assurance standards for regulatory data (both in the laboratory and in the case of confined field tests), as it would simplify the task in the conformation of regulatory “packages”, also contributing to increase the degree of acceptance of the regulatory studies to be presented to third countries authorities. These are issues of particular interest due to their impact on the development costs of GM products, particularly in the case of small and medium-sized local companies and research institutions of the scientific system in Argentina.Instituto de GenéticaFil: Vicien, Carmen. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Cátedra de Administración Rural; ArgentinaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; Argentin

Optimized somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration in elite Argentinian sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) cultivars

Background: Biotechnological breeding of elite sugarcane cultivars is currently limited because of the difficulty of regenerating plants by tissue culture. Here, we report that commercially elite sugarcane genotypes, which are adapted to Argentinian agro-ecological conditions, are capable of being regenerated via indirect somatic embryogenesis. Leaf rolls of five elite genotypes were cultured following two callus induction protocols using different concentrations of 2,4-D as the growth regulator. Embryogenic calluses were regenerated under light conditions. Regenerated plants were subsequently acclimatized in the greenhouse under two acclimatization procedures before being transplanted to the field. Results: Four of the five genotypes were able to form somatic embryos following the two induction protocols. The variables related to embryogenic callus production were influenced by the interaction between genotype and culture conditions. For plant regeneration, the embryogenic calluses were further cultured on an IBA-supplemented medium, where we observed a high genotype dependence. Calluses from the four cultivars regenerated a good number of plants. With the procedures described here, we obtained more than 90% of well-acclimatized plants both in the greenhouse and in the field. Conclusions: This protocol provides a simple way to regenerate sugarcane plants through indirect somatic embryogenesis. Also, the results confirm that tissue culture ability is highly genotype-dependent in sugarcane. Our findings suggest that these elite cultivars could be good candidates for biotechnological breeding.EEA FamailláFil: Di Pauli, Valentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Fontana, Paola Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Felipe, Arturo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Erazzú, Luis E. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; Argentina

Efecto del etil metanosulfonato sobre la capacidad embriogénica y la regeneración in vitro en caña de azúcar

PosterEl mejoramiento genético de caña de azúcar se enfrenta a su complejo genoma, la estrecha base genética, y la fertilidad deficiente que dificultan la obtención de genotipos superiores.EEA FamailláFil: Di Pauli, Valentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Fontana, Paola Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Erazzú, Luis E. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; Argentina

Validation of housekeeping genes for qPCR in maize during water deficit stress conditions at flowering time

Plant stress studies are increasingly being based on gene expression. The analysis of gene expression requires sensitive, precise, and replicable measurements for specific mRNA sequences. Real-time RT-PCR is nowadays the most sensitive method for the detection of low abundance mRNA. A stable reference gene is mandatory to obtain reliable quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) analysis results. Real-time RT-PCR is referred with one or several internal control genes, which should not fluctuate during treatments. In this study, we have chosen eight genes as candidates of possible reference genes for maize (Zea mays L) during water deficit stress at flowering time: a-tubulin, 3`phosphate glyceraldehyde dehydrogenase (GAPDH), 18S ribosomal subunit, protein 13S ribosomal, actin, zein, invertase, and starch synthase IIB. The eight reference genes candidates were tested on maize plants around flowering time, under three different conditions: before water deficit (BWD), under water deficit (WD) and after water deficit (AWD). Results from the three experimental conditions indicated that protein 13S ribosomal gene was the most stable among all the reference genes tested. This result suggests that protein 13S ribosomal gene can be used as internal control (housekeeping) for qPCR analysis in maize plants under water deficit stress during flowering time.Inst. de Genética "Ewald A. Favret"- IGEAFFil: Decima Oneto, Cecilia Andrea. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Bossio, Adrian Ezequiel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Faccio, Paula Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Beznec, Ailin. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Blumwald, Eduardo. University of California Davies. Department Plant Sciences; Estados UnidosFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; Argentin

Shortening of generation cycles in inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.) through embryo rescue technique

Embryo rescue techniques have been used as an approach to raise hybrids from incompatible crosses. These techniques have also proved to be valuable tools for maize improvement, since they allow reducing the duration of the generation cycles for speed breeding. The aim of this study was to identify an efficient embryo rescue protocol to evaluate the response of maize (Zea mays L.) embryo culture and compare its generation time (seed to seed) with the generation time of plants obtained by mature seed germination. To this purpose, we evaluated the germination efficiency, in vitro protocol efficiency, and days to flowering of three advanced maize inbred lines developed at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology of Argentina. A greenhouse traditional strategy was used as control. The embryo rescue technique allowed obtaining nearly four generations per year compared to the two generations obtained in greenhouse. All the plants obtained by the embryo rescue technique were morphologically normal and fertile. The results confirmed the possibility of using embryo rescue strategies to significantly reduce the duration of the generation cycles in maize.Instituto de GenéticaFil: Liotino, Micaela. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Agronomia y Ciencias Agroalimentarias; ArgentinaFil: Varangot, Agostina. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Beznec, Ailin. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; Argentina. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Auteri, Micol. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Bossio, Adrian Ezequiel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; Argentina. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas y Naturales; ArgentinaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Faccio, Paula Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; Argentina. Universidad de Morón. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Químicas y Naturales; Argentin

Shortening of generation cycles in inbred lines of maize (Zea mays L.) through embryo rescue technique

Embryo rescue techniques have been used as an approach to raise hybrids from incompatible crosses. Thesetechniques have also proved to be valuable tools for maize improvement, since they allow reducing the durationof the generation cycles for speed breeding. The aim of this study was to identify an efficient embryo rescueprotocol to evaluate the response of maize (Zea mays L.) embryo culture and compare its generation time (seedto seed) with the generation time of plants obtained by mature seed germination. To this purpose, we evaluatedthe germination efficiency, in vitro protocol efficiency, and days to flowering of three advanced maize inbred linesdeveloped at the National Institute of Agricultural Technology of Argentina. A greenhouse traditional strategywas used as control. The embryo rescue technique allowed obtaining nearly four generations per year comparedto the two generations obtained in greenhouse. All the plants obtained by the embryo rescue technique weremorphologically normal and fertile. The results confirmed the possibility of using embryo rescue strategies tosignificantly reduce the duration of the generation cycles in maize.Fil: Liotino, Micaela Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Morón; ArgentinaFil: Varangot, Agostina. Universidad de Morón; ArgentinaFil: Beznec, Ailin Yanina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Auteri, Micol Tais. Universidad de Morón; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bossio, Adrian Ezequiel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Genética; Argentina. Universidad de Morón; ArgentinaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Faccio, Paula Daniela. Universidad de Morón; Argentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Genética; Argentin

Somatic embryogenesis and plant regeneration capacity in Argentinean maize ( Zea mays L.) inbred lines

Somatic embryogenesis, which is still the method of choice for tissue culture, regeneration and transformation of maize, is largely considered highly genotype-dependent. The Hi II, a highly embryogenic genotype, has been extensively used in transformation protocols. However, this is not an inbred line; instead, it has a proportion of the undesirable A-188 background, and the progeny segregates for phenotypic characteristics and shows poor agronomic performance. In an effort to identify genotypes that combine a high somatic embryogenic response and good agronomic performance, we evaluated 48 advanced inbred lines developed at INTA. Callus development and somatic embryogenesis capacity were measured in 200 immature embryos per line. Embryogenic capacity [EC (mature somatic embryos/callus evaluated) x 100], Regeneration Capacity (RC) and Fertile Plant Recovery in greenhouse (FPR, fertile plants/regenerated plants) were recorded. A total of 17 lines reached an EC > 50%, and 14 out of those 17 lines regenerated seedlings. The FPR ranged between 50 and 100%. Also, we selected three promising lines with high agronomic performance, as alternatives to Hi II, in order to be included in a maize transformation scheme via somatic embryogenesis. In addition, we report the usefulness of Single Sequences Repeat (SSRs) in the determination of genetic diversity among 14 divergent lines for somatic embryogenesis response. The seven lines displaying good in vitro behaviour can be crossed to obtain hybrids combining desirable alleles for somatic embryogenesis response and different genetic backgrounds

Regulatory studies for risk assessments of transgenic crops : a preliminary analysis

Fil: Vicién, Carmen E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Economía, Desarrollo y Planeamiento Agrícola. Cátedra de Administración Rural. Buenos Aires, Argentina.Fil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Buenos Aires, Argentina.Los desarrollos tecnológicos vinculados con los organismos genéticamente modificados (OGM) hicieron necesaria la implementación de sistemas regulatorios destinados a garantizar la seguridad ambiental y la aptitud alimentaria. Datos útiles y de calidad adecuada son cruciales para la realización de los análisis de riesgo y como base para la decisión adoptada por las autoridades regulatorias, en las autorizaciones de la comercialización del material genéticamente modificado (GM). En este trabajo se presentan los resultados preliminares del análisis de un relevamiento efectuado a referentes del sector público y privado involucrados en diferentes aspectos del desarrollo de materiales vegetales GM acerca de los estudios regulatorios necesarios para la evaluación de estos materiales, en particular, las metodologías para garantizar la calidad e integridad de los datos, la estandarización de los ensayos, su financiamiento, las capacidades locales para realizar los estudios y el estado de algunas normas internacionales. Al respecto, un aspecto central es el de la armonización de los estándares de aseguramiento de la calidad de los datos regulatorios (tanto en laboratorio como en los ensayos confinados a campo), pues simplificaría la tarea en la conformación de los “paquetes” regulatorios. Esto contribuiría además a aumentar el grado de aceptación del conjunto de estudios regulatorios a ser presentados ante las autoridades de terceros países. Se trata de cuestiones de particular interés por su impacto en los costos del desarrollo de los productos GM, particularmente en el caso de las pequeñas y medianas empresas locales y de instituciones de investigación del sistema científico en Argentina

Estimación de la variabilidad genética generada en poblaciones mutagenizadas de caña de azúcar

PosterLa mutagénesis in vitro se ha convertido en una herramienta útil en el desarrollo de mutantes, especialmente en plantas de propagación vegetativa, combinando la variación somaclonal generada por el cultivo in vitro y la inducción de mutaciones. Además, la regeneración de plantas mutantes in vitro disminuye la frecuencia de aparición de quimeras. El objetivo de este trabajo fue inducir variabilidad genética en un genotipo elite de caña de azúcar de INTA con la finalidad de obtener poblaciones de plantas mutantes y estimar la variabilidad genética generada por mutágenesis in vitro.EEA FamailláFil: Di Pauli, Valentina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Fontana, Paola Daniela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Lewi, Dalia Marcela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Felipe, Arturo. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; ArgentinaFil: Erazzú, Luis E. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Famaillá; Argentina