Section Symposium
Plant-Insect Ecosystems
Bridget O'Neill (she/her/hers)
Global Regulatory Ecotoxicologist
Corteva Agriscience
Zionsville, Indiana
Chad Boeckman
Corteva Agriscience
Johnston, Iowa
Farmers face significant pressure from various insect pests in corn fields, particularly from corn rootworm (Diabrotica spp.). Several corn varieties have been developed to express insecticidal proteins, historically from Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), to help counter this pressure. Regulators developed a robust environmental risk assessment process as part of the registration of seed traits to ensure the safety of GMO products to the environment. There is great interest in developing additional insecticidal protein options active against corn rootworms for farmers from non-Bt sources. Diversification of tools available to farmers is a worthy goal. An active area of research into proteins capable of potentially demonstrating insecticidal activity has found several possibilities produced by various species. One such protein, IPD079Ea, derived from a fern,Ophioglossum pendulum, and has shown activity against corn rootworm when expressed by plants. We will discuss how the ERA framework that was developed for Bt trait registration is conservative and still applicable for a new generation of non-Bt insecticidal plant-incorporated proteins. We will review the ERA for IPD079Ea as an example.