Pam Johnson says new advances in corn-trait technology will bring about
savings to companies and corn growers.

?It is very exciting,? she says. ?It is a culmination of a lot of research
and business development.?

Mini-chromosome stacking allows several new traits to be stacked on a single
chromosome. The latest development will bring about savings for companies
and corn growers.
For companies, mini chromosomes can decrease the time it takes to develop a
product, Johnson says.

One of the biggest challenges from the marketing standpoint in developing
any new biotechnology is in the transformation, ensuring the gene gets to
the plant efficiently and without disrupting the systems currently in place.

Before this technology was available, companies could go through literally
1,000 transformations to get the right expression.

?It usually takes 7-10 years,? says Johnson, a Floyd producer. ?Now, they
can cut that by two to three years.?

Farmers also will benefit from the increased interest in the new technology
by multiple companies.

?Many of the tech providers have access to this technology,? Johnson says.
?So, for farmers this means more competition in the marketplace, which is
good for us.?

Right now, triple stacks, quad stacks and even eight-stack hybrids are what
the marketplace and producer wants, notes Missouri corn grower Rob Korff.

Korff, a member of the NCGA Biotechnology Working Group, says mini
chromosome stacking should allow for an even greater number of genes to be
inserted without disrupting the current plant systems.

Korff has to look no further than the University of Missouri-Columbia for
some of the latest advances in gene stacking technology.

MU professor of Biological Sciences Jim Birchler and fellow researchers
found a way to fashion an existing chromosome to create a miniature
chromosome.

In corn, there is an extra chromosome called a B chromosome that does not
have any genes located on it. Bircher and his team whittled this chromosome
down and engineered it so new genes could be added in the future.

?It is a natural corn chromosome that we engineered that can stack all the
traits on it,? he says.

The concept of stacked traits exists in the research community, however, not
nearly at this level of precision.

For years, scientists have been placing genes and traits into the plant
randomly.

The traditional method inserts the material into the plant. However, where
it ends up is anybody's guess.

?Many times when that happens, the gene won't work,? Birchler says.

The new process allows scientists to insert genes directly onto the mini
chromosome in a plant. By introducing the gene exactly in the right place,
Birchler expects a better expression in the finished hybrid.

?The hope is that targeting it to a mini chromosome, where the environment
is already known, that it will be more reliably expressed and that will
facilitate the introduction of new traits into the field much faster,? he
says.

Birchler adds while much research is still needed, the hope of scientists,
such as himself, is these little chromosomes will hold any gene trait
companies, producers and the marketplace wants.

Currently, people have stacked traits in the market for insect and herbicide
resistance, he explains.

Those companies are most interested in expanding the stack trait so that
they not only have insect and herbicide resistance, but they would also have
drought resistance and nitrogen utilization improvement.

?Theoretically, how many genes you can put on a mini chromosome is
unlimited,? Birchler says. ?Reality is that it has not been put into
practice yet.?

Nathan Fields sees even greater applications for this new mini chromosome
technology.

As director of NCGA's Research and Business Development, Fields says new
mini chromosomes do ?change the game? in hybrid development.

?Basically it is like writing a new operating system for a computer,? he
explains. ?You are giving the plant a whole new platform to work from.?

Looking forward, Fields says this new technology can be used to tag crops
for identification. Certain kinds of tagging could create a system for
separating genetically modified (GM) crops from non-GM crops.

Fields also sees the potential of applying gene switches to these mini
chromosomes.

For instance, if there is a mini chromosome for rootworm protection in the
plant and a producer experiences higher than normal pressure, an outside
agent would be used to activate the gene inside.

?It would be like spraying a foliar application, but once it hits the leaf
of the plant it could turn the gene on inside the plant,? he explains.

?It is equivalent to going out and spraying the crop, but would have zero
environmental impact. All you would be doing is turning the gene on inside
the plant.?

It will be a few years before the first product using this new technology
enters the marketplace. Then, it will need to pass the single most important
test - yield.

?Yield is the No. 1 thing we look at,? says Korff of Norborne, Mo. ?If there
is a value there with the new technology and a producer can make a return on
his investment, he will buy into it.?

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