Application of New Technologies in the Safety Assessment of Genetically Modified Feed

Abstract

Agricultural biotechnology, such as genetic modification, has been proposed as a way to face food security and climate change. All new crop varieties with altered genetics must be subjected to safety assessments to fulfil regulatory requirements, prior to marketing and/or commercial release. The aim of this thesis is to undertake part of the safety assessment of transgenic plants, using emerging molecular biology technologies. Initially, the molecular characterisation of two genetically modified plants were performed using long read DNA sequencing. Results demonstrate the capability of this technique to characterise transgenes located in complex and or repetitive regions of the plant genomes, in a fast and cost effective way with simple and robust bioinformatic pipelines that would be broadly applicable and accessible. Then, a reliable methodology was developed using droplet digital PCR tools for the detection of transgenes in a variety of complex pasture based products relevant to livestock industries. Later, a toxicological assessment of the high energy perennial ryegrass was performed using a metabolomics approach. The current study indicates that the new technologies can provide a highly reliable and efficient solution for the safety assessment. This thesis represents a contribution in the use of new technologies to improve the risk assessment procedure of genetically modified plants.