Source: UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING submitted to
REGULATORY PROTOCOLS FOR CURRENT AND EMERGING GENOME EDITING TECHNOLOGIES IN CROP IMPROVEMENT
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
OTHER GRANTS
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
1010493
Grant No.
2016-33522-25632
Project No.
WYO-00630-17
Proposal No.
2016-06295
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
HX
Project Start Date
Sep 1, 2016
Project End Date
Aug 31, 2017
Grant Year
2016
Project Director
Dhekney, S.
Recipient Organization
UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING
1000 E UNIVERSITY AVE DEPARTMENT 3434
LARAMIE,WY 82071-2000
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
The goal of the conference is to provide attendees at the 2017 Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) conference, the latest updates on the current regulatory approval procedures in place, protocols used for risk assessment of transgene flow into the environment and how existing regulatory procedures can be applied for new/emerging technologies in genome editing and crop improvement. Specific objectives for the conference grant include 1) inviting experts to speak on regulatory protocols followed for risk assessment of crops developed through transgenic and advanced genome editing technologies and 2) to compare and contrast technologies used to study transgene-mediated pollen flow in the environment for perennial and annual crops. Area under cultivation of genetically modified (GM) crops has dramatically increased in the past ten years with the introduction of new GM cultivars as well improved traits that enhance yield under less-than-optimal crop management practices. Current regulatory procedures in place are cumbersome, time consuming and have been based on information available during the early development of GM crop technology. This combined with the introduction of new genome editing technologies raises new questions on the application of current protocols to new emerging technologies. Experts invited to speak at the conference will provide information on the latest developments in risk assessment protocols for GM crops and their role in regulating emerging genome editing technologies for crop improvement. The conference is timely as it will provide information to a diverse group of audience including researchers from academia, industry and regulatory agencies, and potentially assess how regulatory protocols can be modified or updated to successfully address safety and commercialization issues for emerging crop improvement technologies.
Animal Health Component
0%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
35%
Applied
40%
Developmental
25%
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
2012499108060%
2062410108140%
Knowledge Area
201 - Plant Genome, Genetics, and Genetic Mechanisms; 206 - Basic Plant Biology;

Subject Of Investigation
2499 - Plant research, general; 2410 - Cross-commodity research--multiple crops;

Field Of Science
1080 - Genetics; 1081 - Breeding;
Goals / Objectives
The goal of the conference is to provide attendees at SIVB the latest updates on the current regulatory approval procedures in place, protocols used for risk assessment of transgene flow into the environment and how existing regulatory procedures can be applied for new/emerging technologies in genome editing and crop improvement. Specific objectives for the conference grant include 1) inviting experts to speak on regulatory protocols followed for risk assessment of crops developed through transgenic and advanced genome editing technologies and 2) to compare and contrast technologies used to study transgene-mediated pollen flow in the environment for perennial and annual crops.
Project Methods
The 2017 Society for In Vitro Biology conference will be held in Raleigh, NC from June 10-14 (https://sivb.org/meetings/future-meetings.html). We will invite speakers to make presentations encompassing the above objectives. Speakers will provide up to date information on risk assessment models adopted to study transgene flow into the environment in annuals and perennial crops. Additionally experts from the industry and government policy makers will be invited to make presentations on current regulatory procedures in place for approval of GM crops and how these procedures can be adopted or modified to encompass crops developed through emerging genome editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas-9. We anticipate inviting a total of six speakers (three for each session) who will cover development that has occurred over the past 20 plus years in the above areas of research. Note that these sessions will be held in addition to a host of other sessions that are routinely held during SIVB conferences, which run over a period of 3 ½ days each year.

Progress 09/01/16 to 08/31/17

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience included faculty and researchers from universities worldwide that are engaged in plant biotechnology-related research, federal government researchers and regulatory personnel. Industry groups that attended the conferences included researchers involved in the development of transgenic and genome editing technologies and products, regulators overseeing the characterization and deregulation of such products and those involved in outreach efforts for disseminating information on new products. The audience also involved undergraduate and graduate students that attended the sessions at the conference. Additionally, the conference booklet that published the abstracts is currently available online at the webpage of the Society for In Vitro Biology and is annually accessed by a number of researchers involved in plant biotechnology related research. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Talks were presented at the Society for In Vitro Biology meeting that was held in Raleigh, NC from June 10-14, 2017. https://sivb.org/meetings/meeting-history/2017-keynote-speaker.html A booklet with the abstracts was also published and is available on the website of the Society for In Vitro Biology. The booklet is available for downloading by members of the research community. https://sivb.org/meetings/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Plant-Symposia-and-Workshops.pdf What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Two sessions were organized to provide attendees at SIVB the latest updates on regulatory procedures involved in current and new genome editing technologies. The first session titled " Biosafety best practices for GMO's and regulatory challenges with genome editing".Most recently, the advent and relative ease and speed of use of genome engineering tools such as Clustered Regularly Interspersed Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Cas9 has dramatically cut down the previous bottlenecks of having to provide protein engineering to target specific DNA sequences within the genome; thus lowering the barrier to rapid technical advancements in this field of precision genome engineering for crops. However, just as quickly as the number of technical advancements in this emerging field arise, so do the questions and challenges of how these precision engineered plant products will be further regulated and perceived by the public in terms of safety and acceptance.The conveners for the session wereAnnie Saltarikos fromMonsantoand Marceline Egnin fromTuskegee University. The invited speakers wereAlan McHughen, University of California - Riverside who provided the latest updates onBiotech and Genome Editing Regulations. Dr.Todd Kuiken fromNorth Carolina State University spoke on "Engineering the DNA of Our Governance Systems: Biosafety Best Practices and Issues for GMOs" while Dr.Miguel Vega-Sanchez fromMonsanto Company provided an industry overview ofRegulatory Considerations for Genome Editing in Crops. The second session titled "Regulatory protocols for transgenic crops - assessing pollen-mediated transgene flow in annual and perennial crops"was convened by Dr. Sadanand Dhekney of the University of Wyoming and Dr. Harold Trick on Kansas State University.The widespread adoption and cultivation of GM crops has raised a specter of opposition over concerns regarding the unintended consequences of genetic modification on human and animal health and the ecosystem. A major concern triggering a worldwide debate has been the potential impact of transgene flow to wild/weedy relatives or non-transgenic crops grown in the vicinity of their genetically modified counterparts. The speakers for this session were Dr.Carol Auer, University of Connecticutwhose talk was titled "Bentgrass Goes AWOL: A Story of Gene Flow, Research and Regulation, Dr. Steven Strauss from Oregon State University who spoke on usingRNAi and Gene Editing as Tools for Containment of Genetically Engineered and Exotic Forest Trees, Dr. Hope Hart from Syngenta who described protocols forEvaluating Unintended Open Reading Frames in Genetically Modified Plants and Dr. John Cordts of Cordts Consulting LLC. who gave a broad overview onRegulatory and Risk Assessment Issues with Environmental Releases of Genetically Engineered Plants. The information from the above sessions along with feedback from the members of the Society for In Vitro Biology is currently being assembled by the SIVB education committee chair Dr. Albert Kausch. Once this feeback is obtained, a document will be prepared that describes the opinions of the society on regulatory procedures for genome editing technologies. This document will be posted on the SIVB website and will be available for viewing by the general public.

Publications

  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Mchughen, A. 2017. Biotech and genome editing regulations. P-10. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Kuiken, T. 2017. Engineering the DNA of our governance systems: biosafety best practices and issues for GMOs. P-11. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Vega-Sanchez, M. 2017. Regulatory considerations for genome editing in crops. P-12. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Auer, C. 2017. Bentgrass goes AWOL: A story of gene flow, research and regulation. P-13. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Strauss, S. 2017. RNAi and gene editing as tools for containment of genetically engineered and exotic forest trees. P-14. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Hart, H. 2017. Evaluating unintended open reading frames in genetically modified plants. P-15. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2017 Citation: Cordts, J. 2017. Regulatory and risk assessment issues with environmental releases of genetically engineered plants. P-16. Annual meeting of the Society for In Vitro Biology, In Vitro Cellular and Developmental BiologyAnimal, DOI 10.1007/s11626-017-0157-y.