Location: Food and Feed Safety Research
Project Number: 6054-42000-027-015-A
Project Type: Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: May 1, 2026
End Date: Sep 30, 2029
Objective:
The goal of this collaboration is to evaluate the aflatoxin resistance of the transgenic lines developed by Agency scientists under field conditions and to incorporate their resistance into elite inbred lines if they are verified.
The specific objectives are:
1. Increase the transgenic lines the Agency scientists developed so field study can be conducted;
2. Perform field inoculation of the transgenic lines to determine the aflatoxin resistance of these transgenic lines;
3. Incorporate these lines into future hybrid production if they are confirmed resistant;
and 4. Explore the potential of using spray induced gene silencing technology to manage aflatoxin contamination in maize.
Approach:
Approaches:
1. Increase the transgenic maize lines expressing the HIGS constructs from Agency scientists that are targeting A. flavus at Cooperator field location.
a. Six lines with 30 seeds per line (2 events from each construct on suppressing VeA and NsdC genes) plus two control lines (B104 and B104 transformed with EV will be planted at the Agency greenhouse, and their seedling leaves be tested via herbicide painting or ddPCR to verify the transgenic lines are homozygous.
b. The homozygous plant seedlings will then be transported to Cooperator Farm with APHIS release permit applied by Agency PI in late March to April, 2026 to plant in the field.
c. The silks and tassels will be covered when they emerge from late May to early June and these plants will be self-pollinated for seed increase with assistance from Agency personnel.