www.checkbiotech.org ; www.raupp.info ; www.czu.cz

An improbable battle between two species of fruit is set to shape the way
that scientists view the future impact of GM crops, April 2006 by Sally
Williams.

At first glance it may not seem that much can be learned from the plight
of the British gooseberry versus the stronger American species.

Like many battles in nature before, the species with the stronger genes
appears to be dominating the landscape at the expense of its weaker cousin.

But Welsh scientists are using this model to try to predict the potential
consequences if GM genes escape from crops and mutate with wild plants.

Previous research into the likelihood of GM genes escaping and how far they
might travel concluded that the risks are very low.

But new research by John Warren and Penri James of the University of Wales,
Aberystwyth implies that genes may actually be more likely to spread from GM
crops than from conventional plants.

And using the native British gooseberry as a model, their research shows
that there are likely to be unpredictable consequences from the escape of
what they call "alien genes" into the wild.

Dr Warren said, "Since 1905, the survival of the wild British gooseberry has
been threatened by the introduction of the highly infectious American
gooseberry mildew.

"This is a disease that effectively killed the commercial growing of
gooseberries in the UK and turned the fruit from a national favourite into
an unusual novelty."

To combat the mildew plague, growers introduced genes from the American
species to make the UK version more resistant.

But Dr Warren said that these alien genes actually change the ecology of
insects which feed on the gooseberries in the wild.

"Plants containing genes introduced from American gooseberries were found to
have larger numbers of caterpillars feeding on them, but these insects were
significantly smaller than those feeding on the genetically pure British
gooseberries."

How this happens is unclear but Dr Warren believes that the long-term impact
of meddling with plants' genetic makeup might not be spotted until it is too
late.

He said, "There have not been many trials of this kind and it could be
decades before we see any potential knock-on effects.

"There could be many subtle changes like this, that are happening without
people noticing.

"When bird population declined as a result of the use of intensive
agriculture, that was only spotted decades later.

"You could argue the same could be said about GM crops because everything
you do in agriculture can have an effect on the environment.

"I doubt that there are enough gooseberries around to make much of a
difference but there is the potential for more striking effects from a major
GM crop."

Their research was done at the Institute of Rural Sciences and published in
the international ecology journal, Oecologiam.

Dr Warren will be presenting his findings to the Ecological Genetics Group
(EGG) annual conference which takes place all this week at the University of
Wales, Aberystwyth.

This year marks the group's 50th anniversary and its return to Aberystwyth
means it is visiting the venue of its very first conference in 1956. EGG is
an informal group of scientists; academics, researchers and graduate
students, whose interests include ecological genetics and population
genetics.

[www.checkbiotech.org]

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