Host-induced Gene Silencing can Alleviate Aflatoxin in Maize
(Room Grand Ballroom A/B)
07 Dec 17
9:20 AM
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9:45 AM
Aflatoxins are a global agricultural economic problem and a critical health issue. In this research, transgenic maize plants were engineered to express a kernel-specific RNAi gene cassette targeting an aflatoxin-producing gene. Post fungal infection, aflatoxin was not detected in kernels in the RNAi transgenic maize plants whereas toxin loads reached over 1,000 ppb in nontransgenic kernels. Transcript analysis showed no significant differences between transgenic and nontransgenic kernels. These results demonstrate that biotechnology can be used to silence aflatoxin biosynthesis in maize, providing an attractive engineering strategy that could be extended to other crops to improve food security.