Source: John Innes Centre – 15 December 2021

Researchers at the John Innes Centre have applied to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for consent to conduct a field trial of genetically modified (GM) wheat.

The small-scale field trial is planned to take place within confined GM trial facilities at our field station in Bawburgh, between March and August in each year from 2022 to 2024.

The wheat trial follows research at the John Innes Centre that identified a gene, TaVIT2 which encodes for an iron transporter in wheat. This knowledge was then used to develop a wheat line in which more iron is transported into the endosperm, the part of the grain from which white flour is milled.