EUginius
EUginius is an Internet-based database application for genetically modified organisms. The name EUginius is an acronym and stands for EUropean GMO Initiative for a Unified Database System.
Development and commissioning
The EUginius database was created on the initiative of the German Federal Office of [Consumer Protection and Food Safety] and the Dutch research Institute Wageningen Food Safety Research. Building on parallel preparatory work by both cooperation partners, EUginius has been jointly developed and maintained since 2010, and has been online since October 2014. The information is provided in English.Goal
EUginius aims to assist competent authorities as well as interested private users in finding accurate information on the presence, detection and identification of GMOs. Data on the GMOs’ molecular characterisation and traits, detection methods, reference materials, and authorisation status are provided. EUginius is tax-financed and therefore offers its information on the GMOs freely accessible. Information on releases carried out and their geographical location are not provided in EUginius.Types of organisms present in EUginius
Most of the GMOs present in EUginius are used for genetically modified food and feed, the majority plants, and thus come from the field of green biotechnology. There is also information on genetically modified animals. EUginius provides for example information on a fast-growing genetically modified salmon as well as information on genetically modified insects that have been developed to combat vectors of pathogens. In addition, in some cases, information is provided for the detection of genetically modified microbial production strains of food or feed additives.Since the European Union classifies organisms developed using New Breeding Techniques as GMOs, EUginius provides information about commercialised NBT-organisms, including genome edited organisms such as the high-oleic soybean, the larger growing pufferfish or the heat-tolerant cattle. Furthermore, EUginius lists, to some extent, published NGT organisms which present market-relevant traits.
Data in EUginius
As of August 2022, EUginius contains- 901 genetically modified organisms
- 270 PCR-detection methods
- 451 reference materials
Server locations and service
The database and web servers are located in Germany and are mirrored on servers in the Netherlands. Further development and troubleshooting are decided jointly by the cooperation partners.Partnerships
Since 2018, there have also been partnerships with the Institute of Plant Breeding and Acclimatization, the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety and the Experimental ZooProphylactic Institute of Lazio and Tuscany.Beyond that, EUginius uses the element thesaurus GMO-GET1 developed in collaboration with the Biosafety Clearing House.