Final Report Summary - BIOFORCE (Simultaneous multi-pathway engineering in crop plants through combinatorial genetic transformation: Creating nutritionally biofortified cereal grains for food security)
BIOFORCE has a highly ambitious overarching applied objective: to create transgenic cereal plants able to provide a near-complete micronutrient complement for impoverished and malnourished people in the developing world, and also to fortify these plants with built-in resistance to insect pests and parasitic weeds. This in itself represents a striking advance over current efforts to address food insecurity in the developing world. BIOFORCE achieved the creation of multivitamin corn II which accumulates very high levels of 4 carotenogenic vitamins (including pro-vitamin A), folic acid, vitamin C and tocopherols (vitamin E) and has demonstrated that biotechnological approaches are far superior to conventional methodologies to achieve similar objectives. Multivitamin corn I (accumulating very high levels of 4 carotenogenic vitamins, folic acid and vitamin C) has been evaluated successfully in the field in the USA and in Spain and has been shown to be completely safe for experimental animals in terms of toxicity and allergenicity. BIOFORCE has developed plants (rice and corn) accumulating high levels of key essential minerals (Fe, Zn, Se and Ca). Insect resistant multinutrient corn was created bringing together multivitamin and multimineral maize plants. At the fundamental science level, BIOFORCE has developed a comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms and underlying principles involved in the simultaneous transfer of multiple independent transgenes into plants by direct DNA transfer followed by library-based selection of plants with appropriate genotypes and phenotypes. In addition BIOFORCE exemplified positive interactions between engineered and endogenous metabolic/biosynthetic pathways in plants. This understanding has led to the further development of unique transgenic corn (and rice) lines with exceptionally high levels of very important nutrients such as zeaxanthin, lutein (both molecules are vital for the preservation of the yellow spot in the human eye and deficiencies in these nutrients lead to macular degeneration, the major cause of blindness in ageing European populations), in addition to lycopene and provitamin-A (beta carotene), as well as commercially important ketocarotenoids, including astaxanthin, a powerful antioxidant for humans and animals and an essential feed additive in the aquaculture industry. BIOFORCE activities go well beyond its scientific objectives as demonstrated in outputs focusing on freedom to operate (intellectual property) in the developing world and regulatory constraints and policies which are currently being used as de facto barriers for transgenic crop development and commercialization, particularly in Europe. We have enjoyed broad international press coverage and we have been able to leverage our achievements to attract further funding to complement support from the ERC. A Proof of Concept grant focusing on the delivery of the outputs of BIOFORCE to public institutions in developing countries will conclude the Technology Transfer mission of the project in its original humanitarian context.