Green biotechnology in agriculture – food, biofuel and recombinant DNA technologies.

1. Green biotechnology in agriculture – food, biofuel and recombinant DNA technologies. Domagoj Šimić1, Krešimir Dvojković2, Aleksandra Sudarić3.1 Agricultural institute Osijek, Department for Maize Breeding and Genetics2 Agricultural institute Osijek, Department for BreedingandGeneticsofSmallCerealCrops3 Agricultural institute Osijek, Department for BreedingandGeneticsofIndustrialPlants

2. Green biotechnology • Various definitions • Wikipedia; Pejić, Kereša, Šimić, Buhiniček: Biotechnology applied to agricultural processes expanding to • genomics PRECURSOR: Selection and domestication of plants (breeding) • recombinant gene technologies - applied particularly in plant production designing of transgenic (GM) plants

3. Agricultural Institute Osijek • Genomics - routinelyadopted for developing new varieties of maize, wheat and soybean • Ionomics - detection of chromosome segments in maize associated with biofortification traits in grain to increase the concentrations of bioavailable minerals Fe and Zn  food biotechnology

4. Agricultural Institute Osijek • Ionomics high-throughput genetic analysis of ion concentrations of 22 elements in maize (mostly beneficial, but also toxic) • Concentrations of almost all elements controlled by multiple genes • Cadmium (Cd) concentration controlled only by 1, 2 genes. Confirmation and validation in two maize populations (Sorić et al., 2009)

5. Quantitative trait loci analysis for cadmium accumulation in maize leaf B84xOs6-2 population _____________________________________________________________ QTL Chrom. Pos Left_Mark Supp.IV LOD R^2% add dom --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 chrom2 36 Z1359 34- 38 32.51 40.3 -0.348 -0.134 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IBM population ____________________________________________________________ QTL Chrom. Pos Left_MarkSupp.IV LOD R^2% add dom -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 chrom2 372 umc1028 368- 376 20.01 35.9 0.193 -11.483 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Candidate gene approach; no positional cloning

6. Cadmium in food • Higher Cd concentrations in wheat and soybean grain (EFSA – European Food Safety Authority, 2012)  fertilization in agriculture (Cd is by-product in mineral fertilizers) • Cd can cause kidney failure and has been statistically associated with an increased risk of cancer • decreasing of Cd concentration in crops by recombinant DNA technologies?

7. Genetically modified (GM) crops for food • Green biotechnology = recombinant DNA technologies in crop plants = GM crops for food “the speed and precision that they offer over traditional breeding techniques made them indispensable 30 years ago. They still are today.” 30 years of GM crops GM CROPS: PROMISE & REALITYA Nature special issue, 2 May 2013 nature.com/gmcrops

8. Food to fuel Shifting the paradigm in agriculture to biofuel production seems to be promising for green biotechnology • Crop plants - not domesticated formodern biofuel production energy conversion efficiency? •  quickest,most efficientway to convert to biofuel feedstocks is biotechnologically

9. GM crops for fuel Recombinant DNA technologies for increasingCd concentration in maize phytoremediation of Cd contaminated soil because of intensive fertilization • more fertilization  more biomass and/or higher yields for biofuel production • advocating safe and appropriate use of technology and environmental protection

10. New GM crops for food and fuel • “editing a plant’s own version, rather than bringing in an external gene”, Nature, 2013 = cisgenesis  transgenesis (EU) • Equivalent to traditional plant breeding but recombinant DNA technologies are applied • Maize Cd genes for Cd accumulaton in maize Mario Franić talk - tomorrow