May 2011

JRC Scientific and Technical Report
Authors: Maria Lusser, Claudia Parisi, Damien Plan, Emilio Rodríguez-Cerezo
EUR Number: 24760 EN
Publication date: 5/2011

Abstract

Harmonised EU legislation regulating organisms produced by modern bio-techniques (GMOs) goes back to the year 1990 and the definition of GMOs was not up-dated since. During the last decade new plantbreeding techniques have been developed.
The Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission in cooperation with the JRC’s Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP) has reviewed the state-of-the-art of these technologies, their level of development and their current adoption by the breeding sector and prospects for a future commercialisation of crops based on them.
The technologies discussed included cisgenesis, intragenesis (technologies using transformation with genetic material restricted to the species’ own gene-pool), emerging techniques to induce controlled mutagenesis or insertion (ODM, Zinc Finger Nuclease technologies 1-3) and other applications such as grafting on GM rootstocks or reverse breeding. The following methods were used in the study: literature and patent searches, search in a database of field trials, a survey directed to plant breeders and a workshop with participants from public and private sector. Additionally challenges for the detection of these techniques were evaluated. The study showed that the development of these techniques is differently advanced. Technical advantages, but also challenges for the commercialisation (technical constraints, acceptance and regulation) have been identified.

Full report

Website: http://gmoinfo.jrc.ec.europa.eu

Published: May 13, 2011