GM technology develops in the developing world
by Gunjan Sinha, Science magazine via The Meridian Institute's Food Security and Ag-Biotech News

According to this article, South African researchers will later this year begin field tests of what could be the first-ever genetically modified (GM) crop developed by Africans for Africa.

The crop is a variety of maize designed for resistance to the maize streak virus, which is endemic to sub-Saharan Africa and devastates maize fields there. The GM crop carries a mutated form of a gene from the maize streak virus and two additional regulatory genes, one derived from maize itself and another from Agrobacterium.

The crop is the product of a12-year development program conducted by microbiologist Jennifer Thomson, virologist Edward Rybicki, and others at South Africa's University of Cape Town (UCT). Recently, Frederick Kloppers, a plant pathologist and technical manager at Pannar Seeds in South Africa, has been conducting greenhouse tests of the GM maize.

The article says it has proved "highly resistant." Field tests will now measure whether the crop displays that same level of virus resistance outdoors, and will examine its effect on soil microorganisms and insects. Other studies will ensure that the added protein is digestible and not an allergen.

The article says the UCT researchers and Pannar Seeds have been working with government regulators throughout the crop development process.

The bulk of the funding, it says, has come from private foundations and the South African government, and plans for the crop's introduction call for selling seeds to small-scale and subsistence farmers for minimal profit.

The developers hope these facts will "help burnish the dim reputation of GM technology," according to the article.

The article is available online at the link below with a paid subscription to the journal Science.
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/315/5809/182