Study Shows Drought Tolerant HB4 Wheat Compositionally Equivalent to Non-GM Wheat
Wheat is one of the most economically-important crops grown in wide areas
globally. This crop faces drought in many areas, affecting its production.
Thus, a drought tolerant wheat would be a desirable alternative for growers
to combat water deficit conditions.
A gene (Helianthus annuus homeobox 4 or HaHB4) from sunflower was discovered
to confer drought tolerance when introduced to wheat. This led to the
development of wheat event IND-??412-7 (HB4? wheat), which displayed higher
yield in production environments of low productivity potential. Researchers
conducted compositional analysis of the GM wheat, considering 41 nutrients
and 2 anti-nutrients in the grain and 10 nutrients in forage. Results showed
that HB4 wheat is compositionally equivalent to non-transgenic wheat.
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