The Establishment of Genetically Engineered Canola Populations in the U.S.

Abstract

Concerns regarding the commercial release of genetically engineered (GE) crops include naturalization, introgression to sexually compatible relatives and the transfer of beneficial traits to native and weedy species through hybridization. To date there have been few documented reports of escape leading some researchers to question the environmental risks of biotech products. In this study we conducted a systematic roadside survey of canola (Brassica napus) populations growing outside of cultivation in North Dakota, USA, the dominant canola growing region in the U.S. We document the presence of two escaped, transgenic genotypes, as well as non-GE canola, and provide evidence of novel combinations of transgenic forms in the wild. Our results demonstrate that feral populations are large and widespread. Moreover, flowering times of escaped populations, as well as the fertile condition of the majority of collections suggest that these populations are established and persistent outside of cultivation.

Spillage of Viable Seeds of Oilseed Rape along Transportation Routes: Ecological Risk Assessment and Perspectives on Management Efforts

“…The feral plants probably originated from spillage of contaminated OSR seed from freight trains (Hecht et al, 2014;Schulze et al, 2014Schulze et al, , 2015. Spillage of GM OSR seeds along transportation routes was also confirmed in Japan where cultivation of GM OSR is also prohibited (Saji et al, 2005;Kawata et al, 2009;Nishizawa et al, 2009Nishizawa et al, , 2010Aono et al, 2011;Mizuguti et al, 2011), the United States (in North Dakota 80% of feral OSR proved to be GM: Schafer et al, 2011;Sagers et al, 2012) and Canada (Yoshimura et al, 2006;Knispel et al, 2008;Beckie and Warwick, 2010;Knispel and McLachlan, 2010). Consequently, transportation and handling activities during import of GM OSR are considered the main cause of unintended occurrence and establishment of feral GM OSR in countries without GM OSR cultivation.…”

“…Moreover, the origin and establishment of feral populations along transportation routes contribute to the uncertainty concerning containment of genetically modified (GM) crops outside fields and could therefore interfere with a successful weed management. Here, we focus on oilseed rape (OSR, Brassica napus), a frequently spilled crop (Von der Lippe and Kowarik, 2007) with GM lines already in use, to identify spillage hot-spots due to transportation and handling, allowing us to develop perspectives on common management approaches.Spillage of OSR seeds has intensively been studied worldwide (e.g., Schafer et al, 2011), which makes OSR a primary model system in this context. We chose Austria as study region because this small country is situated in the center of Europe rendering it a nodal point for traffic and international goods carriage.…”

“…Spillage of OSR seeds has intensively been studied worldwide (e.g., Schafer et al, 2011), which makes OSR a primary model system in this context. We chose Austria as study region because this small country is situated in the center of Europe rendering it a nodal point for traffic and international goods carriage.…”

Feral genetically modified herbicide tolerant oilseed rape from seed import spills: are concerns scientifically justified?

“…In the study of Yoshimura et al (2006), approximately 2/3 of the ferals sampled were transgenic, whereas all ferals sampled by Knispel et al (2008) exhibited the presence of the GLY or GLU tolerance traits (or both). In North Dakota (USA), 347 of the 406 oilseed rape plants collected, tested positive for the GLY or GLU tolerance trait (Schafer et al, 2010). The presence of feral GMHT oilseed rape plants was also detected at the port of Vancouver on the west coast of Canada, where most GMHT oilseed rape seed for export is transported by rail (Yoshimura et al, 2006).…”

“…Even though Yoshimura et al (2006) failed to detect feral plants with both HT traits in western Canada, the authors argued that such plants would likely have been detected with more intensive sampling. Also, in North Dakota (USA), two instances of unintentionally stacked traits have been reported recently (Schafer et al, 2010). It is likely that adjacent plants within feral populations may further contribute to the spread and stacking of HT traits, especially where feral plants with different HT traits occur together (Knispel et al, 2008), as cross-fertilisation rates increase with increasing proximity of oilseed rape plants (Funk et al, 2006).…”