<p style="text-align: justify;">LY038 maize has been genetically modified to express the <i>cordapA</i> gene from <i>Corynebacterium glutamicum</i>. This gene encodes for a lysine &ndash;insensitive dihydropicolinate synthase (cDHDPS) enzyme, a regulatory enzyme in the lysine biosynthetic pathway. The activity of the native maize DHDPS is regulated by lysine feedback inhibition. Since the cDHDPS enzyme is less sensitive to lysine feedback inhibition, its expression in maize LY038 results in elevated levels of free lysine in the grain when compared to conventional maize. The expression of the <i>cordapA</i> gene is under the control of the maize Glb1 promoter, which directs cDHDPS expression predominantly in the germ of the seed, resulting in accumulation of lysine in the grain.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">Maize-soybean meal based diets formulated for poultry and swine are characteristically deficient in lysine and require the addition of supplemental lysine for optimal growth and production of these animals. The development of LY038 maize provides an alternative to direct supplementation of poultry and swine diets by increasing the amount of lysine in the maize portion of the feed.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;">There are no selectable markers present in the final LY038 event as these were removed after the selection of the initial transgenic event using a site-specific recombination system. The recombination-mediated removal of the selectable marker was accomplished by crossing with a second transgenic maize plant expressing a specific recombinase gene, and subsequent crossing and selection resulted in the isolation of lines containing only the <i>cordapA</i> gene as inserted DNA.</p>
