Compositional analysis of grain and forage from MON 87427, an inducible male sterile and tissue selective glyphosate-tolerant maize product for hybrid seed production.

Abstract

Conventional maize hybrid seed production has historically relied upon detasseling using either manual methods or semiautomated processes to ensure the purity of the hybrid cross. Monsanto Co. has developed biotechnology-derived MON 87427 maize with tissue-selective glyphosate tolerance to facilitate the production of hybrid maize seed. MON 87427 utilizes a specific promoter and intron combination to drive expression of CP4 EPSPS protein in vegetative and female reproductive tissues, conferring tolerance to glyphosate. This specific combination of regulatory elements also results in limited or no production of CP4 EPSPS protein in two key male reproductive tissues: pollen microspores, which develop into pollen grains, and tapetum cells that supply nutrients to the pollen. Thus, MON 87427 induces a male sterile phenotype after appropriately timed glyphosate applications. To confer additional benefits of herbicide tolerance and/or insect resistance, MON 87427 was combined with MON 89034 and NK603 by conventional breeding to develop MON 87427 × MON 89034 × NK603. The work described here is an assessment of the nutrient, antinutrient, and secondary metabolite levels in grain and forage tissues of MON 87427 and MON 87427 × MON 89034 × NK603. Results demonstrated that MON 87427 is compositionally equivalent to a near-isogenic conventional comparator. Results from this analysis established that the compositional equivalence observed for the single-event product MON 87427 is extendable to the combined-trait product, MON 87427 × MON 89034 × NK603. With increasing global demand for food production, the development of more efficient seed production strategies is important to sustainable agriculture. The study reported here demonstrated that biotechnology can be applied to simplify hybrid maize seed production without affecting crop composition.