Research and analysis

Qualifying higher plant notification (reference: 23/Q04)

Published 3 April 2023

Applies to England

© Crown copyright 2023

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Notification requirement for release of qualifying higher plants

Information to be provided to the Secretary of State alongside a notice of intention to release a qualifying higher plant under Schedule 3A of the Genetically Modified Organisms (Deliberate Release) (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2022.

1. The title of the project

Maintaining current yields under lower fertilizer inputs by loss of GSK1 in barley.

2. The aim of the project (including any matters being investigated as part of the project)

The aim of the project is to understand if the loss of GSK1, a gene involved in regulation of components of the brassinosteroid pathway, in barley can reduce fertilizer inputs while maintaining current yields. These 2 barley lines created by using CRISPR/Cas9 to target GSK1 containing small indels knocking out GSK1 in barley. These mutant lines lacking a functional GSK1 will be grown under a range of nitrogen levels to assess their ability to enhance yields when less inputs are provided to the crop. We hypothesize that the loss of GSK1 will improve overall yields but want to understand if this is possible under field conditions.

3. The full name of the qualifying higher plant to be released under the project, including:

(a) family name: Poaceae

(b) genus: Hordeum

(c) species: vulgare

(d) subspecies: not applicable

4. The expected date on which the project will start

1 April 2023.

5. The expected duration of the project

Three years.

6. Confirmation that the person with overall responsibility for the project will put in place appropriate measures [footnote 1], as necessary, to minimise the possibility of material from the qualifying higher plant being placed on the market, for example by cross-fertilizing sexually compatible commercial crops

I confirm that appropriate measures will be put in place to minimise this possibility. We do not grow commercial barley in the proximity of the field. There will be no barley grown for 20 metres from the boundary of the experimental plots and no sexually compatible wild relatives of barley exist in the vicinity.

7. Confirmation that the person with overall responsibility for the project has read the ACRE guidance on genetic technologies that result in ‘qualifying higher plants’ and has assessed that the higher plants covered by this notification meet these criteria

I confirm that I have read the guidance at ACRE and have assessed that the higher plants covered by this notification meet these criteria.

  1. Notifiers may wish to refer to published ACRE advice concerning measures for the minimisation of cross-pollination from UK GMO crop trials authorised under retained EU legislation ↩

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