<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Nutritional Data</b><br />
<br />
Compositional analyses were performed on grain and forage samples of NK603 (treated with glyphosate) and the non-transformed parental control line together with a number of other commercial maize hybrids planted at trial sites in the U.S. and Europe. Analyses of grain samples included measurements of proximates (protein, fat, ash, moisture), acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), amino acids, fatty acids, vitamin E, minerals (calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, and zinc), and the antinutritional components, phytic acid and trypsin inhibitor.<br />
<br />
In all of these tests, small statistical differences between NK603 and control lines were observed only in: six amino acids (alanine, arginine, glutamic acid, histidine, lysine, and methionine) as measured in grain from European trials (no differences were observed in material from U.S. trials); and stearic (C18:0) acid levels. Overall, these differences were not consistent across all trial sites and they were considered to reflect random variation. All compositional results were within the ranges observed for commercial non-transformed lines.<br />
<br />
The nutritional quality of NK603 grain was assessed in feeding trials with broiler chickens, finisher swine, and laboratory rats. These studies showed that there were no differences between the transformed and non-transformed maize.</p>

<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Toxicity</b><br />
<br />
The CP4 EPSPS gene encodes a single polypeptide of 455 amino acids (47.6 kDa) which exhibits about 50% amino acid sequence similarity with the analogous plant EPSPS enzyme. The family of bacterial and plant EPSPS proteins are not known to display any toxic or allergenic properties. The potential toxicity of the CP4 EPSPS protein was assessed by comparing its amino acid sequence against a database of 4,677 protein sequences (not all unique) that have been associated with toxicity, and in an acute oral toxicity study in mice. The CP4 EPSPS protein did not display any sequence homology with known protein toxins and did not result in any adverse effects on test animals (50 males, 50 females) receiving doses up to 400 mg/kg of bacterially derived CP4 EPSPS protein. The single amino acid substitution within the CP4 EPSPS L214P protein did not alter the sequence comparison results.<br />
<br />
<b>Allergenicity</b><br />
<br />
The CP4 EPSPS encoding gene was not derived from an organism known to cause allergic reactions and the allergenic potential of this protein was further evaluated by comparing its amino acid sequence against a database of known allergens, and by assessing its stability to digestion in the presence of simulated gastric fluids. There was no sequence homology between CP4 EPSPS and known allergens when checked against a database of 567 protein sequences using an 8-amino acid length window. As assessed by Western immunoblot analysis, the CP4 EPSPS was rapidly degraded (T50 &lt; 15 sec) upon exposure to pepsin-containing simulated gastric fluid or trypsin-containing simulated intestinal fluid (T50 &lt;= 10 min). Similar results were obtained with the variant CP4 EPSPS L214P protein.</p>

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