Gene Flow from Transgenic PPO-inhibiting Herbicide-resistant Rice to Weedy Rice, and Agronomic Performance by Their Hybrids

Performance of hybrids between abiotic stress-tolerant transgenic rice and its weedy relatives under water-stressed conditions

“…The F 1 hybrids obtained from crosses between insect-resistant transgenic rice and weedy rice resulted in greater seed production and seed germination compared with their weedy parents, an observation reflecting that the expression of insect-resistance genes via transgenic introgression can improve fitness advantages in weedy populations 38 . Our recent report also suggested that the hybrids between herbicide-resistant transgenic rice and weedy rice might persist into weedy populations due to enhanced reproductive traits and herbicide resistance 6 . Here, the transgenic F 1 hybrids overexpressing AtCYP78A7 were significantly taller and heavier than their parental transgenic and weedy relatives.…”

“…Because it has numerous favourable ecological characteristics enabling it to outcompete cultivated rice, weedy rice may cause more serious damage to rice production in extensive regions by reducing rice yield and quality [27][28][29] . In particular, if weedy rice acquires a specific fitness-related trait (e.g., tolerance against biotic and abiotic stress) through gene flow derived from transgenic rice, the weedy population may increase its competitive fitness and invasiveness in an agricultural system and further induce ecological risks [2][3][4][5][6] . Here, we explored the transgene flow from abiotic stress-tolerant transgenic rice to their weedy relatives in a field trial and further ascertained the performance of the resultant hybrids.…”

“…A heterotic effect is often observed from crossings between crops and their weedy or wild relatives, not necessarily involving transgenes 9,39 . Further, it is not yet fully understood whether the phenotypic properties of interspecific hybrids derived from gene flow from transgenic to weedy rice is an outcome of transgene movement or hybridization itself 6,40,41 . Therefore, here we compared the performance of traits in homozygous F 3 progeny and nullizygous F 3 progeny with those of their transgenic and weedy rice parents.…”

“…Acquisition of a certain trait in hybrids through transgene movement can lead to more favourable fitness within the weedy populations [3][4][5][6] Chen et al 29 have expressed that the control of weedy rice may become more difficult if introgression of herbicide-resistance genes with other transgenes occurs and significantly increases the ecological fitness of weedy rice Snow et al 34 have addressed that if Bt-transgenic sunflowers are commercially released into the field, Bt transgenes will disperse from cultivated plants to natural populations of wild and weedy sunflowers and strongly reduce damage from susceptible herbivores on these plants. Here, we found that homozygous and hemizygous F 2 progeny have higher drought tolerance, as indicated by leaf rolling index compared to the nullizygous F 2 progeny in a pot experiment.…”

“…One of the major environmental concerns with transgenic crops is the transgene movement and proliferation into wild or weedy relatives 1 . Although the rate of gene flow from transgenic crops to their related species is not high, the introgression of a transgene may introduce potential ecological consequences that can elevate the fitness and invasiveness of those weedy/wild populations [2][3][4][5][6] .…”