The present study was undertaken to provide the foundation for development of genome‐scale resources for the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), an important model organism widely used in both aquatic toxicology research and regulatory testing. The authors report on the first sequencing and 2 draft assemblies for the reference genome of this species. Approximately 120× sequence coverage was achieved via Illumina sequencing of a combination of paired‐end, mate‐pair, and fosmid libraries. Evaluation and comparison of these assemblies demonstrate that they are of sufficient quality to be useful for genome‐enabled studies, with 418 of 458 (91%) conserved eukaryotic genes mapping to at least 1 of the assemblies. In addition to its immediate utility, the present work provides a strong foundation on which to build further refinements of a reference genome for the fathead minnow. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:212–217. © 2015 SETAC

The glyphosate acetyltransferase (gat) gene from Bacillus licheniformis was subjected to multiple rounds of gene shuffling to optimize kinetics of corresponding GAT proteins to acetylate the herbicide active ingredient glyphosate. Genetically modified soybeans expressing the gat4601 gene (356043 soybeans) are tolerant to the application of glyphosate. The current manuscript reports the outcome of the allergenicity and toxicity assessment for the GAT4601 protein. Bioinformatic comparison of the amino acid sequence of GAT4601 did not identify similarities to known allergenic or toxic proteins. In vitro studies conducted with heterologously produced GAT4601 protein demonstrated that it was rapidly degraded in simulated gastric fluid containing pepsin (< 30 s) and in simulated intestinal fluid containing pancreatin (< 2 min) and completely inactivated at temperatures above 56 degrees C. The GAT4601 protein expressed in planta is not glycosylated and similar protein profiles were observed in flour extracts from 356043 soybeans and nontransgenic near isoline comparator soybeans (Jack) using serum from soy allergic persons. No evidence of adverse effects was observed in mice following acute oral exposure to 2000 mg/kg of GAT4601 protein or in a repeated dose dietary exposure study at doses of 800-1000 mg/kg/day. This comprehensive assessment demonstrates that the GAT4601 protein does not present a risk for adverse effects in humans when used in the context of agricultural biotechnology.