www.czu.cz ; www.usab-tm.ro ; www.raupp.info

Scientists will today explain to a meeting in London how their research has
greatly improved our understanding of the flow of genetic material between
organisms in the environment. Outcomes from the Gene Flow in Plants and
Microorganisms Initiative, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research
Council (NERC), will be valuable in informing the future of both
conventional and GM crops, June 2005.

The outcomes of the initiative include the finding that separation
distances of around 100m between GM and conventional crops can meet most
impurity thresholds and restrict the transfer of genetic material into the
environment. Researchers also found that gene transfer from GM organisms to
soil bacteria is vanishingly small and highly unlikely.

However, scientists examining the likelihood of gene transfer from
conventionally-bred commercial oil seed rape to its waterside wild relative,
Bargeman's Cabbage, Brassica rapa, found that transfer was not rare. In
fact, they estimated that around 32,000 oil seed/B. rapa hybrids are
produced in the UK every year.

Another project explored how the activity of genes transferred into plants
could be made more predictable. The researchers found that introducing
traits by GM methods can have less impact on overall gene expression than
conventional plant breeding.

The findings are the result of a five-year ?4.5M initiative to increase
knowledge of what happens when new or 'foreign' genes are inserted into an
organism's genome, what mechanisms control the insertion, whether inserted
genetic material can transfer between organisms, and if so what the
consequences of gene flow would be.

Professor Phil Dale, Chair of the Initiative Steering Group, said, "The
findings of the Gene Flow Initiative are not just important in informing
policy on GM crops but for conventional farming and plant breeding as well.
Before research under this initiative began we had very little idea of how
genetic material flowed in the environment but we are now much better placed
for the future."

[www.bbsrc.ac.uk]

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