One of humanity's oldest crops, the safflower can now be used for recombinant DNA technology for medical purposes Photo: "Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz", Prof Dr Otto Wilhelm Thomé

The USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has found no significant environmental or human impact for the proposed field releases of genetically modified safflower and a Nicotiana hybrid.

SemBioSys Genetics’ safflower has been modified to express human proinsulin within its seeds fused to an Arabidopsis oleosin molecule, whilst the Plant Biotechnology’s Nicotiana hybrid line has been modified to produce an antimicrobial antibody that binds to a bacterium (Streptococcus mutans) associated with tooth decay in humans. 

The transgenic safflower line has been modified to obtain seed material for the development of downstream insulin purification techniques. The fusion protein, consisting of oleosin from Arabidopsis thaliana and human proinsulin, expression is controlled by the phaseolin promoter and terminator sequences from Phaseolus vulgaris L (common bean).  Then constructs are inserted into the recipient organisms via a disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens vector system.  Finally, the seeds are ground and used for the development of proinsulin purification technology.

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The purpose of the Nicotiana hybrid line is to generate plant biomass from which an antibody can be extracted after harvest. The way it works is that the expression of the gene sequence is controlled by the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) promoter and terminated by NOS from Agrobacterium tumefaciens, and then utlises the selectable marker NPTII from Escherichia coli. The constructs are inserted into the recipient organisms via a disarmed Agrobacterium tumefaciens vector system. Finally the antibodies are extracted after the harvest. 

The APHIS assessed the application and scientific information and concluded the releases ‘will not present a risk of introducing or disseminating a plant pest’ and ‘will not have a significant impact on the quality of the human environment.’

The findings resulted in the determination that no environmental impact statement would be needed for either field release.

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