Researchers Seek Permission for GM Wheat Trial in UK

08 Nov 2016 --- UK-based Rothamsted Research is seeking permission to conduct GM field trials to test whether genetically modified wheat plants can carry out photosynthesis more efficiently and could result in a higher yielding crop. Following a grant from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Rothamsted Research has applied to Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) to allow GM field trials at the Rothamsted farm during 2017 and 2018.

Scientists at Rothamsted Research, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Essex and Lancaster University, have developed wheat plants that convert light energy into plant biomass more efficiently. They claim this trait has the potential to result in higher yielding plants and want to test this in the field but need permission to do so. The proposed trial is to evaluate the performance of the engineered plants in the field.

Professor Christine Raines, Head of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Essex and principal investigator for this research project, said: “The efficiency of the process of photosynthesis integrated over the season is the major determinant of crop yield. However, to date photosynthesis has not been used to select for high yielding crops in conventional breeding programs and represents an unexploited opportunity. But there is now evidence that improving the efficiency of photosynthesis by genetic modification is one of the promising approaches to achieve higher wheat yield potential.”

“In this project we have genetically modified wheat plants to increase the efficiency of the conversion of energy from sunlight into biomass. We have shown that these plants carry out photosynthesis more efficiently in glasshouse conditions. One of the steps in photosynthesis shown to limit this process is carried out by the enzyme. sedoheptulose-1,7-biphosphatase (SBPase). We have engineered GM wheat plants to produce increased levels of SBPase by introducing an SPBase gene from Brachypodium distachyon (common name stiff brome), a plant species related to wheat and used as a model in laboratory experiments.”

Being granted permission would be a major step forward as researchers could assess the potential of the GM plants to produce more using the same resources and land area as their non-GM counterparts because they would be grown in ‘real environmental conditions.’

Dr Malcolm Hawkesford, Head of the Plant Biology and Crop Science Department at Rothamsted Research says: “These field trials are the only way to assess the viability of a solution that can bring economic benefits to the farmers, returns to the UK tax payer of the long-term investment in this research, benefits to the UK economy as a whole and the environment in general. Here at Rothamsted we are very happy to provide any further information and explanation on this area of research that can facilitate informed contribution from the public to the ongoing consultation carried out by Defra”.

However the research has been described as “irrelevant to farmers” by Soil Association policy director, Peter Melchett, who tells FoodIngredientsFirst: “There is no demand for GM wheat – even in the US, and certainly not in Europe or the UK. GM wheat has been available in the US for over 15 years but never commercialized because of strong opposition in the marketplace, from the people who buy wheat, particularly for bread. We think this work on GM wheat is completely irrelevant to actual farmers.”

The proposed experiment is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as part of the International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) consortium activities. The International Wheat Yield Partnership (IWYP) is an independent voluntary research funding consortium which responds to a major priority of the G20 sponsored Wheat Initiative. It will help the Wheat Initiative to fulfil its mission to coordinate wheat research and contribute to global food and nutritional security.

Ensuring food security is a major challenge given the projected need to increase world food production by 40 percent in the next 20 years and 70 percent by 2050. Wheat is one of the major grain crops worldwide and provides approximately one-fifth of the total calories consumed globally, but wheat yields have reached a plateau in recent years and predictions are that yield gains will not reach the level required to feed the nine billion population predicted for 2050. 

Traditional breeding and agronomic approaches have maximized light capture and allocation to the grain. A promising but as yet unexploited route to increase wheat yields is to improve the efficiency by which energy in the form of light is converted to wheat biomass.

Dr Elizabete Carmo-Silva, co-investigator in the project at Lancaster University, added: “We have produced two types of plants, one in which two extra copies of SBPase are functional and one in which six extra copies of SBPase are functional. If granted permission to carry out the field trial, we will measure the photosynthetic efficiency of the plants in the field and we will determine total aboveground plant biomass and grain yield on an area basis at full maturity. We will also measure the number of wheat ears on an area basis and the grain number and weight per ear. From this data we will estimate the harvest index, which is the proportion of biomass allocated to the grain.”

A public consultation on this proposed field trial has begun.

by Gaynor Selby