Q&A with Haven Baker on Simplot’s Innate™ Potatoes « Biology Fortified, Inc.

Innate™ and conventional potatoes 10 hours after being sliced

 A snippet of a great interview at Biology Fortified by Karl Haro von Mogel on 8 May 2013:

There’s a new genetically engineered potato in town that doesn’t brown when cut or fried, nor does it make acrylamide. J. R. Simplot Company petitioned the USDA to deregulate their Innate™ potatoes, and the public comment period has just been opened up on that petition. We sent Simplot some questions about their new potatoes and the technology used to make them, and their Vice President of Plant Sciences, Haven Baker, was happy to respond. Here is that interview, and if you have more questions about it feel free to ask more, as we have asked Haven to stick around for the discussion.

1. Can you tell us about the new Innate potato traits? How was it decided that these traits would be important to work on?

Absolutely. Simplot is both a pioneering potato processor and food company. With over 60 years in the potato business, we are aware of a number of significant areas where biotechnology can benefit many of the entities that make up the potato food chain. The trick is always matching what is scientifically feasible with what makes business sense. We think that seed growers, farmers, processors and consumers can all benefit from reduced black spot bruise, low asparagine, and slow degradation of starch to sugars during storage.

We know that potatoes’ susceptibility to black spot from impact and pressure during harvest and storage results in significant product losses. Innate™ potatoes’ reduced black spot from bruising will therefore result in a larger usable yield, making potato farming more profitable. Reduced sugars – under certain conditions – provide consistent golden color, providing ideal taste and texture qualities. Reduced levels of asparagine decrease the potential formation of acrylamide, a chemical compound that occurs when potatoes, wheat, coffee, and other foods are cooked at high temperatures. In California, Innate™ potatoes provide a potential means for potato processors to address the acrylamide issues under Proposition 65.

2. It seems that “Innate” is more than just the traits, but is a technology for introducing many traits into potatoes. Can you tell us how this works? Is it intragenic/cisgenic? Why did you choose the name “Innate”?

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We thought “Innate” technology was an appropriate term because of the inherent nature of the potato DNA transferring to the potato plant. Simplot’s Innate™ technologies allow researchers to isolate genetic elements from any plant genome, rearrange them, or link them together in desired permutations, and introduce them back into the genome. Inserting an extra copy of a gene into the potato activates a self-defense mechanism known as RNA interference, which silences the genes related to expression of black spot bruise, asparagine, and reducing sugars in tubers.

The inserted genes come from cultivated potatoes or wild potatoes (a group of related plant species that are sexually-compatible with potatoes). We incorporate no foreign genes, no antibiotic resistance markers, and no vector backbone sequences, into the plant genome. We used a vector called pSIM1278, which incorporates two silencing “cassettes” into the potato. Expression of the first cassette lowers transcript levels for the Asn1 (asparagine synthetase-1) and Ppo5 (polyphenol oxidase-5) genes and, consequently, limits the formation of the acrylamide precursor asparagine, and the formation of impact-induced black spot bruise that occurs when the enzyme polyphenol oxidase oxidizes phenols to produce dark pigments. The presence of black spot bruise results in lower quality and subsequent production losses during processing into fries or chips... Go to full article

Acrylamide is formed when Asparagine is heated to high temperatures (like when frying) in the presence of some sugars. Less Asparagine and sugars means less Acrylamide.

Full story here: Q&A with Haven Baker on Simplot’s Innate™ Potatoes « Biology Fortified, Inc.: