Research headed by the University of Hawai'i will improve papaya production and help bring Hawai'i closer to exporting genetically modified papaya to Japan, researchers involved with the project said.

An international consortium led by UH researchers deciphered the genetic code of the SunUp papaya — genetically engineered to be resistant to papaya ringspot virus — offering the most detailed data so far on the impact of genetic modification on papaya.

The findings were published as the cover article in last week's issue of the journal Nature.

The sequencing of the papaya genome will "benefit the papaya research community, papaya farmers and consumers for years to come," said Maqsudul Alam, director of UH's Center for Advanced Studies in Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics, the lead institute of the consortium.

The sequencing provided information to help facilitate the deregulation of transgenic papaya in Japan, said Dennis Gonsalves, director of the USDA Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center in Hilo, Hawai'i.

BARRIERS TO EXPORTING

Transgenic papaya can be marketed in Canada and on the Mainland, but Japan and other countries do not allow Hawai'i's genetically engineered papaya to be imported. Officials here have been working for several years to get transgenic papaya deregulated in Japan and faced concerns about how the introduction of a virus-resistant gene affects the papaya genome.

Although most of the work toward deregulation was done outside the Papaya Genome Project, the project provided significant information to help the effort, Gonsalves said. He said his lab and UH researchers used the genome project's data in combination with their own work to show that DNA insertions did not produce any harmful effects.

The sequencing showed DNA insertions occurred in only three places in the papaya genome and that no nuclear genes were disrupted, researchers said.

Gonsalves said Japanese authorities are still seeking additional information but that the country appears "very close" to deregulation. He said he's hopeful Hawai'i will be able to ship transgenic papayas to Japan next year.

The transgenic Rainbow papaya represented 68 percent of papaya grown in Hawai'i in August 2007, while the non-genetically modified Kapoho accounted for 17 percent of acreage, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service.

However, opponents of genetically modified crops said there are still concerns.

"The DNA insertion should be in one location," said Melanie Bondera, founding member of Hawaii Seed, an advocate for sustainable agriculture and a Hawai'i free of genetically modified organisms. "It is not a relief to hear that it was found in three places. ... Messy science like this can create havoc with all sorts of normal functions of the papaya plant, affecting farmers' agricultural practices and consumers' digestion."

UNANSWERED QUESTIONS

UH crop extension specialist Hector Valenzuela said the project left important questions about genetically modified papaya unanswered.

"The research in itself is great; it's good that they did it," Valenzuela said. "But overall, I don't think that they addressed the questions that a lot of people have about the potential safety with regards to having any side-effects on the health of humans, or the impact on the environment."

Alam said: "We laid the foundation for future research to address GMO-type questions."

The papaya genome project also paves the way for technology to help farmers grow better quality papaya and sets the platform for other possible applications, such as in the pharmaceutical industry, Alam said. He also said the project created the infrastructure for other important genome research in the future.

The Hawaii Agriculture Research Center said the genome project gives researchers a detailed understanding of the genetic makeup of papaya as well as the genetic changes that make the SunUp papaya virus-resistant.

The Papaya Genome Project is said to be the first large-scale genome project in Hawai'i and involved 22 research institutions, including the Hawaii Agriculture Research Center, the USDA Agricultural Research Service's U.S. Pacific Basin Agricultural Research Center and Nankai University in China.