Rapeseed cytoplasm gives advantage in wild relatives and complicates genetically modified crop biocontainment

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Allainguillaume, J., Harwood, T., Ford, C. S., Cuccato, G., Norris, C., Allender, C. J., Welters, R., King, G. J. and Wilkinson, M. J. 2009. Rapeseed cytoplasm gives advantage in wild relatives and complicates genetically modified crop biocontainment. New Phytologist. 183 (4), pp. 1201-1211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.02877.x

AuthorsAllainguillaume, J., Harwood, T., Ford, C. S., Cuccato, G., Norris, C., Allender, C. J., Welters, R., King, G. J. and Wilkinson, M. J.
Abstract

Biocontainment methods for genetically modified crops closest to commercial reality (chloroplast transformation, male sterility) would be compromised (in absolute terms) by seed-mediated gene flow leading to chloroplast capture. Even in these circumstances, however, it can be argued that biocontainment still represses transgene movement, with the efficacy depending on the relative frequency of seed-and pollen-mediated gene flow. In this study, we screened for crop-specific chloroplast markers from rapeseed (Brassica napus) amongst sympatric and allopatric populations of wild B. oleracea in natural cliff-top populations and B. rapa in riverside and weedy populations. We found only modest crop chloroplast presence in wild B. oleracea and in weedy B. rapa, but a surprisingly high incidence in sympatric (but not in allopatric) riverside B. rapa populations. Chloroplast inheritance models indicate that elevated crop chloroplast acquisition is best explained if crop cytoplasm confers selective advantage in riverside B. rapa populations. Our results therefore imply that chloroplast transformation may slow transgene recruitment in two settings, but actually accelerate transgene spread in a third. This finding suggests that the appropriateness of chloroplast transformation for biocontainment policy depends on both context and geographical location.

KeywordsPlant Sciences
Year of Publication2009
JournalNew Phytologist
Journal citation183 (4), pp. 1201-1211
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2009.02877.x
PubMed ID19496946
Open accessPublished as green open access
FunderBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
NERC - Natural Environment Research Council - Centre for Ecology Hydrology - CEH
Funder project or codeCentre for Crop Genetic Improvement (CGI)
Project: 4974
Publisher's version
PublisherWiley
ISSN0028-646X

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