Lack of repeatable differential expression patterns between MON810 and comparable commercial varieties of maize

The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMO) in many countries follows strict regulations to assure that only products that have been safety tested in relation to human health and the environment are marketed. Thus, GMOs must be authorized before use. By complementing more targeted approaches, profiling methods can assess possible unintended effects of transformation. We used microarrays to compare the transcriptome profiles of widely commercialized maize MON810 varieties and their non-GM near-isogenic counterparts. The expression profiles of MON810 seedlings are more similar to those of their corresponding near-isogenic varieties than are the profiles of other lines produced by conventional breeding. However, differential expression of approximately 1.7 and approximately 0.1% of transcripts was identified in two variety pairs (AristisBt/Aristis and PR33P67/PR33P66) that had similar cryIA(b) mRNA levels, demonstrating that commercial varieties of the same event have different similarity levels to their near-isogenic counterparts without the transgene (note that these two pairs also show phenotypic differences). In the tissues, developmental stage and varieties analyzed, we could not identify any gene differentially expressed in all variety-pairs. However, a small set of sequences were differentially expressed in various pairs. Their relation to the transgenesis was not proven, although this is likely to be modulated by the genetic background of each variety.