Glyphosate Tolerant Corn Event VCO-Ø1981-5 and Kit and Method for Detecting the Same

Abstract

The present invention relates to the field of plant transformation with genes conferring tolerance to glyphosate. The invention particularly relates to a maize (corn) plant transformed with a gene encoding an EPSPS providing the plant tolerance to an application of glyphosate under conditions where this herbicide is effective in killing weeds. The invention particularly concerns an elite transformation event VCO-Ø1981-5 comprising the gene construct and means, kits and methods for detecting the presence of the said elite event.

1 . A maize (corn) plant comprising the event VCO-Ø1981-5, representative seeds deposited with NCIMB with accession number 41842. 
     
     
         2 . A glyphosate tolerant maize (corn) plant comprising the event VCO-Ø1981-5, obtainable by breeding a maize (corn) plant with a maize (corn) plant grown from seeds deposited with NCIMB with accession number 41842. 
     
     
         3 . The glyphosate tolerant maize (corn) of  claim 2 , comprising in its genome the nucleotide sequences as set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 and/or SEQ ID NO: 3. 
     
     
         4 . The glyphosate tolerant maize (corn) of  claim 1 , wherein it is an hybrid maize (corn) plant. 
     
     
         5 . The part of the plant, or cells of the plant or seeds of the plants of  claim 1 , wherein said part of the plant, cells or seeds comprise the event VCO-Ø1981-5. 
     
     
         6 . An isolated nucleotide sequence comprising a sequence that is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or SEQ ID NO: 2 and/or SEQ ID NO: 3. 
     
     
         7 . The isolated nucleotide sequence of  claim 6  comprising a sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
         8 . The isolated nucleotide sequence of  claim 6  wherein it consists of the sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 3. 
     
     
         9 . A kit for detecting the presence or absence of the VCO-Ø1981-5 event of  claim 1  in a biological sample, wherein it comprises primers or probes amplifying or hybridizing to a polynucleotide sequence comprising an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence. 
     
     
         10 . The kit of  claim 9  wherein it comprises a first primer of 10 to 30 nucleotides, comprising a sequence homologous to a sequence fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3 and a second primer of 10 to 30 nucleotides comprising a sequence fragment having complementarity to a sequence fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3, the first and the second primers flanking an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence and capable of generating an amplicon molecule comprising SEQ ID NO: 1 and/or SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
         11 . The kit of  claim 9 , wherein said first and second primers comprise the sequences set forth in SEQ ID NO: 11 and SEQ ID NO: 12, respectively. 
     
     
         12 . A method for detecting the presence or the absence of the maize (corn) transformation VCO-Ø1981-5 event of  claim 1  in a biological sample comprising:
 a) extracting DNA from a biological sample; 
 b) contacting said extracted DNA with a first and a second primer of length comprised between 10 nucleotides to 30 nucleotides; 
 c) performing an amplification reaction to produce an amplicon molecule comprising an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence, and; 
 d) detecting the presence or the absence of a nucleotide sequence comprising an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence in the amplicon molecule. 
 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the amplicon molecule comprising an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence comprises SEQ ID NO: 1 or a sequence that is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  wherein the amplicon molecule comprising an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence comprises SEQ ID NO: 2 or a sequence that is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said first primer comprises a sequence homologous to a sequence fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3 and the second primer comprises a sequence having complementarity to a sequence fragment of SEQ ID NO: 3, the first and the second primers flanking an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence to generate an amplicon molecule comprising SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2 or a sequence that is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO: 1 or SEQ ID NO: 2. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein said first and second primers comprise the sequences set forth in SEQ ID NO: 11 and SEQ ID NO: 12, respectively. 
     
     
         17 . A method for detecting the presence or the absence of the maize (corn) plant VCO-Ø1981-5 event in a biological sample comprising:
 a) extracting DNA from a biological sample; 
 b) contacting said extracted DNA with probe(s) of sufficient length to hybridize under stringent conditions with a nucleotide sequence that specifically detects a VCO-Ø1981-5 event junction sequence; 
 c) subjecting the extracted DNA and probe(s) to stringent hybridization conditions, and; 
 d) detecting the hybridization of the probe(s) to the extracted DNA, wherein detection indicates presence of an event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence. 
 
     
     
         18 . A method of producing a glyphosate tolerant plant comprising breeding a plant of  claim 1 , to and selecting progeny by detecting the presence of polynucleotide sequence comprising the event VCO-Ø1981-5 DNA sequence. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  wherein said polynucleotide comprises a sequence set forth SEQ ID NO: 1 SEQ ID NO: 2 and/or SEQ ID NO: 3.