RELEASE OF INFORMATION ...............................................................................................................................2
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................................................3
NOMENCLATURE ....................................................................................................................................................5
CERTIFICATION.......................................................................................................................................................6
LIST OF TABLES.......................................................................................................................................................9
LIST OF FIGURES...................................................................................................................................................11
KEY TO ABBREVIATION AND ACRONYMS....................................................................................................12
1 RATIONALE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF ARCTICTM APPLES ................................................................15
1.1 BASIS FOR REQUEST FOR DETERMINATION OF NONREGULATED STATUS UNDER 7 CFR PART 340.6....15
1.2 ARCTICTM APPLE EVENTS GD743 AND GS784..........................................................................................15
1.3 BENEFITS OF ARCTICTM APPLE EVENTS GD743 AND GS784 ...................................................................16
1.4 SUBMISSIONS TO OTHER REGULATORY AGENCIES...................................................................................16
2 THE APPLE FAMILY......................................................................................................................................17
2.1 APPLE AS A CROP........................................................................................................................................17
2.2 TAXONOMY OF APPLE ................................................................................................................................18
2.3 GENETICS OF APPLE ...................................................................................................................................19
2.4 PROPAGATION AND POLLINATION OF APPLE ............................................................................................21
2.5 WEEDINESS OF APPLE ................................................................................................................................22
2.6 MODES OF GENE ESCAPE IN APPLE ...........................................................................................................22
3 DESCRIPTION OF THE TRANSFORMATION SYSTEM.........................................................................25
4 DONOR GENES AND REGULATORY SEQUENCES................................................................................27
4.1 BIOLOGY OF POLYPHENOL OXIDASE (PPO) .............................................................................................27
4.1.1 PPO Evolutionary History...................................................................................................................27
4.1.2 Plant PPOs and Browning...................................................................................................................27
4.1.3 PPO Biochemistry and Physiological Function ..................................................................................29
4.1.4 PPO Molecular Biology.......................................................................................................................31
4.2 GEN-03 VECTOR ........................................................................................................................................34
4.3 PPO SUPPRESSION TRANSGENE.................................................................................................................36
4.4 NPTII SELECTION MARKER .......................................................................................................................36
4.5 CONCLUSIONS .............................................................................................................................................36
5 GENETIC ANALYSIS AND MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION.....................................................37
5.1 MOLECULAR CHARACTERIZATION............................................................................................................37
5.1.1 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) .....................................................................................................37
5.1.2 Southern Blot Analysis.........................................................................................................................38
5.1.3 Reverse Primer PCR (rpPCR) .........................................................................