GENE DISPERSAL FROM GENETICALLY-MODIFIED OIL SEED RAPE IN THE FIELD

A field trial was carried out with oil seed rape plants that had been genetically modified to contain genes coding for marker characters (beta-glucuronidase, kanamycin resistance and asulam resistance). The aim of the experiment was to examine a method of studying gene dispersal in an agricultural environment. The central area of the field plot comprised 150 genetically modified plants and 450 plants not expressing the marker genes. These were surrounded by additional non-expressing plants. The plants were allowed to freely cross pollinate and a sample of the resultant progeny from non-expressing plants were screened for expression of the marker characters and for the presence of the introduced genes (by PCR). Limited gene dispersal was detected and the frequency of modified seedlings amongst the progeny of a plant appeared to have been strongly influenced by the genotype of the immediately adjacent plants.