Transgenic salmon producer AquaBounty and its majority owner, Intrexon, [December 18] announced that their jointly developed gene-edited line of tilapia, FLT 01, has been exempted from GM regulation in Argentina.
In a press release, the companies said this line of tilapia enables more sustainable production through improvements in fillet yield, growth and feed conversion efficiency, enabling the tilapia to grow to market weight in less time, while also consuming less feed than conventional varieties.
The engineered tilapia were developed using gene editing techniques but, unlike AquaBounty’s AquAdvantage salmon, do not contain any foreign DNA or a new combination of genetic material that would warrant their regulation as genetically modified in Argentina.
…
“We are pleased with Argentina’s leadership in establishing a transparent and predictable process for the advancement of products developed with gene editing techniques and see this as a critical development for companies seeking to bring highly innovative solutions to the global market using powerful and highly precise genetic tools,” [ said Intrexon chief operating officer Thomas Bostick.]
…
According to AquaBounty and Intrexon, the jointly developed tilapia demonstrates a significant improvement in fillet yield of 70%, a growth rate improvement of 16% and a feed conversion rate improvement of 14%, offering promise to producers to shorten the time to harvest ….
Read full, original article: AquaBounty gets Argentina go-ahead for edited tilapia
