Gene Flow in Genetically Engineered Perennial Grasses: Lessons for Modification of Dedicated Bioenergy Crops

Kausch, Albert P.; Hague, Joel; Oliver, Melvin J.; Watrud, Lidia S.; Mallory‐Smith, Carol; Meier, V. D.; Stewart, C. Neal

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-13440-1_10

Cited by 9 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…A major component of gene flow in flowering plants is pollen-mediated transfer [2,9,11,37]. Several field studies and risk assessments have been performed on both annual and/or self-pollinating transgenic crops [25,26,[75][76][77][78] and transgenic herbicide-resistant perennial grasses [12][13][14][15]26,79].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This is because many of the traits that are beneficial to the commercial production of perennial plants potentially impact plant fitness and the ability of the plants to compete for resources [6,8]. Confinement of transgenes is thus an obvious regulatory and biosafety objective for the release and commercialization of transgenic bioenergy feedstocks [9,10] as the development of fertile reproductive structures in genetically modified perennial plants will result in undesirable gene flow to non-transgenic and wild plants [9,[11][12][13][14][15][16]. Hence, the control of gene flow is widely understood as a major obstacle to genetic improvement of perennial plants.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Therefore, TC has important regulatory, economic, environmental and biosafety implications for the release and commercialization of transgenic bioenergy feedstocks. Various TC strategies have been devised based on hybrid plant systems [2,9,11,17]. The methods for transgenic hybrid plant gene confinement that have been developed so far include seed-based gene confinement, the gene deletor system, and various total sterility concepts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pollen Sterility—A Promising Approach to Gene Confinement and Breeding for Genetically Modified Bioenergy Crops

et al. 2012

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Advanced genetic and biotechnology tools will be required to realize the full potential of food and bioenergy crops. Given current regulatory concerns, many transgenic traits might never be deregulated for commercial release without a robust gene confinement strategy in place. The potential for transgene flow from genetically modified (GM) crops is widely known. Pollen-mediated transfer is a major component of gene flow in flowering plants and therefore a potential avenue for the escape of transgenes from GM crops. One approach for preventing and/or mitigating transgene flow is the production of trait linked pollen sterility. To evaluate the feasibility of generating pollen sterility lines for gene confinement and breeding purposes we tested the utility of a promoter (Zm13Pro) from a maize pollen-specific gene (Zm13) for driving expression of the reporter gene GUS and the cytotoxic gene barnase in transgenic rice (Oryza sativa ssp. Japonica cv. Nipponbare) as a monocot proxy for bioenergy grasses. This study demonstrates that the Zm13 promoter can drive pollen-specific expression in stably transformed rice and may be useful for gametophytic transgene confinement and breeding strategies by pollen sterility in food and bioenergy crops. OPEN ACCESSAgriculture 2012, 2 296

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Pollen Sterility—A Promising Approach to Gene Confinement and Breeding for Genetically Modified Bioenergy Crops

et al. 2012

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“…Few members of these grasses such as miscanthus, switchgrass, Johnson grass and others are placed on the invasive and the noxious plant list in the United States ( Low and Booth, 2007 ; Wang and Brummer, 2012 ). There have been concerns of increased weediness, invasiveness and gene flow to close wild relatives and broader ecological impact associated with genetic improvement of perennial grasses, particularly with fitness enhancing traits ( Kausch et al, 2010 ). So far, there are no documents available from the OECD on the biology of these perennial grasses.…”

Section: Potential For Harm Associated With Candidate Abiotic Stress mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing Utilization and Environmental Risks of Important Genes in Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance

Khan

Ahmad

2016

Front. Plant Sci.

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Transgenic plants with improved salt and drought stress tolerance have been developed with a large number of abiotic stress-related genes. Among these, the most extensively used genes are the glycine betaine biosynthetic codA, the DREB transcription factors, and vacuolar membrane Na+/H+ antiporters. The use of codA, DREBs, and Na+/H+ antiporters in transgenic plants has conferred stress tolerance and improved plant phenotype. However, the future deployment and commercialization of these plants depend on their safety to the environment. Addressing environmental risk assessment is challenging since mechanisms governing abiotic stress tolerance are much more complex than that of insect resistance and herbicide tolerance traits, which have been considered to date. Therefore, questions arise, whether abiotic stress tolerance genes need additional considerations and new measurements in risk assessment and, whether these genes would have effects on weediness and invasiveness potential of transgenic plants? While considering these concerns, the environmental risk assessment of abiotic stress tolerance genes would need to focus on the magnitude of stress tolerance, plant phenotype and characteristics of the potential receiving environment. In the present review, we discuss environmental concerns and likelihood of concerns associated with the use of abiotic stress tolerance genes. Based on our analysis, we conclude that the uses of these genes in domesticated crop plants are safe for the environment. Risk assessment, however, should be carefully conducted on biofeedstocks and perennial plants taking into account plant phenotype and the potential receiving environment.

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“…Genetic modification will be applied to biofuel crop development (Kausch et al ., ,b,c; Yuan et al ., ), and switchgrass has been routinely genetically modified (Burris et al ., ; Li and Qu, ; Liu et al ., ; Richards et al ., ; Somleva, ; Somleva et al ., ; Xi et al ., ) with reliance on cv Alamo. Agrobacterium ‐mediated transformation has been applied to switchgrass cvs Alamo and Kanlow with generally low numbers of T‐DNA insertions and stable transmission to progeny as Mendelian loci without rearrangements (Liu et al ., ; Somleva et al ., ; Xi et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

In situ embryo rescue for generation of wide intra‐ and interspecific hybrids of Panicum virgatum L.

Kausch

Tilelli

Hague

et al. 2016

Plant Biotechnology Journal

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SummaryWide crosses have been used for decades as a method for transferring novel genetic material and traits in plant breeding. Historically, many products of wide crosses require tedious and inefficient surgical embryo rescue prior to embryo abortion to recover single plantlets. We have utilized transgenic switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L. cv Alamo) as a pollen donor in conjunction with antibiotic or herbicide selection for recovery of intra‐and interspecific F1 crosses by using developing ovules from the female parent and selecting for embryogenic cultures derived from the in situ immature embryo. Using this approach, several intravarietial crosses were generated between transgenic Alamo and the switchgrass varieties Kanlow, Blackwell and Cave‐in‐Rock as well as an interspecific cross with Atlantic coastal panicgrass. This procedure selected F1 embryogenic callus produced from the developing embryo contained within isolated immature ovules. Several clonal plants were successfully regenerated from each cross. Southern blot, PCR, phenotypic analyses and genomic analysis confirmed F1 hybrids. Using genotyping‐by‐sequencing shows the hybridization of the recovered plants by determining the ratio of transgressive markers to total compared markers between parents and their potential offspring. The ratio of transgressive markers to total compared markers was significantly lower between parents and their predicted offspring than between parents and offspring unrelated to them. This approach provides the possibility to move useful transgenes into varieties that are recalcitrant to direct transformation which can be optionally segregated thus useful to create new hybrids, as well as recovery of wide crosses that are either difficult or impossible using traditional techniques.

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Gene Flow in Genetically Engineered Perennial Grasses: Lessons for Modification of Dedicated Bioenergy Crops

Cited by 9 publications

References 28 publications

Pollen Sterility—A Promising Approach to Gene Confinement and Breeding for Genetically Modified Bioenergy Crops

Pollen Sterility—A Promising Approach to Gene Confinement and Breeding for Genetically Modified Bioenergy Crops

Assessing Utilization and Environmental Risks of Important Genes in Plant Abiotic Stress Tolerance

In situ embryo rescue for generation of wide intra‐ and interspecific hybrids of Panicum virgatum L.

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