Análise da contaminação transgênica em variedades de milho (Zea mays l.) em bancos comunitários de sementes do Alto Sertão

Abstract

The evolution of world agriculture and the green revolution model has led to the technification of traditional production systems, and the replacement of traditional seed varieties by modern and hybrid cultivars has caused a great loss of diversity. Alto Sertão Sergipano has great climatic instability, expressed by water deficit during most of the year. In this territory, corn is the main agricultural crop and, due to the possibility of transgene dispersal to landraces occurring, the long-term genetic erosion of Creole corn becomes a real and inevitable situation, bringing serious threats to the future of agrobiodiversity. Creole seeds are part of the patrimony of several peoples that over time have been conserving, rescuing, selecting and valuing varieties and maintaining the agrobiodiversity adapted to each region. The groups of farmers and their representative entities are responsible for maintaining this genetic heritage through the conservation of the seeds of Creole cultivars, despite the great advances of modern agriculture. With the territorial and technological advances in maize cultivation, the genetic variability of the Alto Sertão de Sergipe runs the risk of suffering from genetic erosion. In this sense, this work aimed to carry out tests to verify if there is transgenic contamination in eight maize varieties stored in Community Seed Banks and to build an updated database in the Alto Sertão region of Sergipe. For this, the Common Extraction™ method was used through the BULK GRAIN kit for corn grain from the RomerLabs laboratory, which detects RUR-HS transgenic events (CP4 EPSPS); Cry1A; PAT; PMI (Vip3A, mCry3A). Of the analyzed varieties, 57.14% tested positive for transgenic contamination. The Colombia, White Corn and White Asa varieties tested negative for all transgenic events.