Environmental biosafety research最新文献

{"title":"Pollen-mediated gene flow from transgenic safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) intended for plant molecular farming to conventional safflower.","authors":"Marc A McPherson,&nbsp;Allen G Good,&nbsp;A Keith C Topinka,&nbsp;Rong-Cai Yang,&nbsp;Ross H McKenzie,&nbsp;R Jason Cathcart,&nbsp;Jed A Christianson,&nbsp;Curtis Strobeck,&nbsp;Linda M Hall","doi":"10.1051/ebr/2008023","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr/2008023","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Field experiments were conducted in Chile and western Canada to measure short-distance (0 to 100 m) outcrossing from transgenic safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) intended for plant molecular farming to non-transgenic commodity safflower of the same variety. The transgenic safflower used as the pollen source was transformed with a construct for seed-specific expression of a high-value protein and constitutive expression of a gene conferring resistance to the broad-spectrum herbicide glufosinate. Progeny of non-transgenic plants grown in plots adjacent to the transgenic pollen source were screened for glufosinate resistance to measure outcrossing frequency. Outcrossing frequency differed among locations: values closest to the transgenic pollen source (0 to 3 m) ranged from 0.48 to 1.67% and rapidly declined to between 0.0024 to 0.03% at distances of 50 to 100 m. At each location, outcrossing frequency was spatially heterogeneous, indicating insects or wind moved pollen asymmetrically. A power analysis assuming a binomial distribution and a range of alpha values (type 1 error) was conducted to estimate an upper and lower confidence interval for the probable transgenic seed frequency in each sample. This facilitated interpretation when large numbers of seeds were screened from the outcrossing experiments and no transgenic seeds were found. This study should aid regulators and the plant molecular farming industry in developing confinement strategies to mitigate pollen mediated gene flow from transgenic to non-transgenic safflower.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"8 1","pages":"19-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1051/ebr/2008023","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28229776","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Fitness and beyond: preparing for the arrival of GM crops with ecologically important novel characters.","authors":"Mike Wilkinson, Mark Tepfer","doi":"10.1051/ebr/2009003","DOIUrl":"10.1051/ebr/2009003","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The seemingly inexorable expansion of global human population size, significant increases in the use of biofuel crops and the growing pressures of multifunctional land-use have intensified the need to improve crop productivity. The widespread cultivation of high-yielding genetically modified (GM) crops could help to address these problems, although in doing so, steps must also be taken to ensure that any gene flow from these crops to wild or weedy recipients does not cause significant ecological harm. It is partly for this reason that new GM cultivars are invariably subjected to strict regulatory evaluation in order to assess the risks that each may pose to the environment. Regulatory bodies vary in their approach to decision-making, although all require access to large quantities of detailed information. Such an exhaustive case-by-case approach has been made tractable by the comparative simplicity of the portfolio of GM crops currently on the market, with four crops and two classes of traits accounting for almost all of the area under cultivation of GM crops. This simplified situation will change shortly, and will seriously complicate and potentially slow the evaluation process. Nowhere will the increased diversity of GM crops cause more difficulty to regulators than in those cases where there is a need to assess whether the transgene(s) will enhance fitness in a non-transgenic relative and thereafter cause ecological harm. Current practice to test this risk hypothesis focuses on attempting to detect increased fitness in the recipient. In this paper we explore the merits and shortcomings of this strategy, and investigate the scope for developing new approaches to streamline decision-making processes for transgenes that could cause unwanted ecological change.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"8 1","pages":"1-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28228219","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Response to Wilkinson & Tepfer's \"Fitness and beyond: preparing for the arrival of GM crops with ecologically important novel characters\".","authors":"Detlef Bartsch","doi":"10.1051/ebr/2009002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr/2009002","url":null,"abstract":"Mike Wilkinson and Mark Tepfer’s commentary (Wilkinson and Tepfer, 2009) is a very welcomed contribution towards more realism in environmental risk assessment (ERA). I share most of their views regarding the next generation of GM crops with ecologically important novel characters. Looking at the past GM crops with herbicide tolerance and insect resistance traits, one must confess that environmental impacts reported so far are – if at all – small compared to other consequences of human activities (e.g. global climatic change or increased salinization of cropland). However, the quantification of ‘fitness’ is not an easy task, as this term clearly depends on the environmental context (e.g. the novel plant in the receiving environment). I know colleagues who recommend measuring ‘plant performance’ instead of ‘fitness’. Then the impact of novel genetically modified characters on the establishment and spread in the context of the receiving environment is a key point. Two considerations will strengthen the regulatory preparation for novel characters: (1) assessing the ecological phenotype and (2) definition of ‘weediness’.","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"8 1","pages":"17-8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28228222","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Plant fitness assessment for wild relatives of insect resistant crops.","authors":"Deborah K Letourneau,&nbsp;Joy A Hagen","doi":"10.1051/ebr/2008024","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr/2008024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Risk assessments of new insect-resistant crops will need to estimate the potential for increased weediness of wild crop relatives as a consequence of gene flow. When field experiments are precluded by containment concerns, simulation experiments can identify hazards or measure expected differences between GMOs and parental plants. To measure plant fitness consequences of wild plant protection from Bt-susceptible herbivores, we used topical sprays of bacterial Bacillus thuringiensis larvacide (Bt) on Brassica rapa. Spontaneous crosses between B. rapa and Bt cole crops cannot be precluded, especially if adoption of Bt varieties leads to high exposure. We compared survivorship and seed output of B. rapa that were either protected from or exposed to Bt-susceptible Lepidoptera in the various conditions where hybrids are likely to occur: cultivated (disked) soil, uncultivated agricultural field margins, and nearby non-crop habitats (meadows and ruderal areas). The relative effect of herbivore protection varied among years, habitats, and populations of seedlings. In 2003-2004, Bt sprays did not result in lower herbivory on B. rapa, and plant fitness was not increased. However, in 2004-2006 B. rapa seedlings protected from Bt-susceptible herbivores lived 25% longer, on average, than those that were exposed to these herbivores. In addition, an average B. rapa seedling sprayed with Bt throughout its lifetime was twice as likely to produce siliques and had 251% of the seed output of a seedling exposed to herbivores. The fitness advantage of Bt-based plant protection was apparent in 2004-2005 in half the plants that experienced higher herbivory, and for 2005-2006, was more pronounced in agricultural habitats than in meadows with established, perennial vegetation and less disturbance. Positive effects of Bt-based plant protection and greater fitness in disturbed habitats suggest that crop-wild gene flow may benefit weed populations, and that field tests with herbivore exclusion/addition experiments are feasible alternatives when molecular containment of transgenes restricts field experiments with insect resistant crop-wild hybrids.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"8 1","pages":"45-55"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28229782","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Dispersal of viable row-crop seeds of commercial agriculture by farmland birds: implication for genetically modified crops.","authors":"John L Cummings,&nbsp;Levis W Handley,&nbsp;Bruce Macbryde,&nbsp;Shelagh K Tupper,&nbsp;Scott J Werner,&nbsp;Zachary J Byram","doi":"10.1051/ebr:2008021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr:2008021","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To address some concerns about the expansion of genetically engineered pharmaceutical and industrial crops to outdoor plantings and potential impacts on the human food supply, we determined whether commercial agriculture seeds of maize or corn Zea mays L., barley Hordeum vulgare L., safflower Carthamus tinctorius L. and rice Oryza sativa L. are digested or pass viably through the digestive tract, or are transported externally, by captive mallard ducks Anas platyrhynchos L., ring-necked pheasants Phasianus colchicus L., red-winged blackbirds Agelaius phoeniceus (L.) and rock pigeons Columba livia Gmelin (with the exception of whole maize seeds which were too large to feed to the blackbirds). These crop seeds, whether free-fed or force-fed, did not pass through the digestive tract of these bird species. The birds nonetheless did retain viable seeds in the esophagus/crop and gizzard for several hours. For example, after foraging for 6 h, mallards had retained an average of 228 +/- 112 barley seeds and pheasants 192 +/- 78 in the esophagus/crop, and their germination rates were 93 and 50%, respectively. Birds externally transported seeds away from the feeding location, but in only four instances were seeds found attached to their muddy feet or legs and in no case to feathers. Risk of such crop seeds germinating, establishing and reproducing off site after transport by a bird (externally or internally) or movement of a carcass by a predator, will depend greatly on the crop and bird species, location, environmental conditions (including soil characteristics), timing, and seed condition.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"7 4","pages":"241-52"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1051/ebr:2008021","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27898239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Investigating recombinant protein exudation from roots of transgenic tobacco.","authors":"Francesca Pizzuti, Lorenza Daroda","doi":"10.1051/ebr:2008020","DOIUrl":"10.1051/ebr:2008020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is widely acknowledged that plant-made pharmaceuticals (PMPs) offer numerous benefits, including inexpensive production, biological safety and the facility for production at agricultural scale. At the same time, it is important to minimize any potential risk associated with this new technology, including the potential release of bioactive proteins into the environment. To address this issue, we studied transgenic Nicotiana benthamiana and Nicotiana tabacum plants expressing two recombinant single-chain variable fragment (scFv) antibodies, respectively scFvB9 and scFvH10. ScFvB9 was raised against glycoprotein G1 of Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), and scFvH10 was raised against human tumor-associated antigen tenascin-C. Both antibodies were targeted to the secretory pathway using the N-terminal signal peptide from Phaseolus vulgaris polygalacturonase-inhibiting protein (PGIP), and scFvH10 carried in addition a C-terminal KDEL tetrapeptide for retention in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Sterile hydroponic cultures were established, allowing us to investigate whether scFvB9 and scFvH10 were present in root exudates. Intercellular fluids extracted from different plant tissues were analyzed by western blotting revealing the presence of scFvB9. Successful secretion of scFvB9 in hydroponic medium was also demonstrated, whereas no scFvH10 could be detected in the leaf, stem or root apoplast, nor secreted into the hydroponic medium. Our results show that scFvH10 release or diffusion from the roots of transgenic plants was not occurring, suggesting that the KDEL signal might contribute to the environmental biosafety of crops producing PMPs.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"7 4","pages":"219-26"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1051/ebr:2008020","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27898234","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Phylogeny of chitinases and its implications for estimating horizontal gene transfer from chitinase-transgenic silver birch (Betula pendula).","authors":"Katileena Lohtander,&nbsp;Hanna-Leena Pasonen,&nbsp;Markku K Aalto,&nbsp;Tapio Palva,&nbsp;Ari Pappinen,&nbsp;Jouko Rikkinen","doi":"10.1051/ebr:2008019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr:2008019","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chitinases are hydrolytic enzymes that have been employed in biotechnology in attempts to increase plants' resistance against fungal pathogens. Genetically modified plants have given rise to concerns of the spreading of transgenes into the environment through vertical or horizontal gene transfer (HGT). In this study, chitinase-like sequences from silver birch (Betula pendula) EST-libraries were identified and their phylogenetic relationships to other chitinases were studied. Phylogenetic analyses were used to estimate the frequency of historical gene transfer events of chitinase genes between plants and other organisms, and the usefulness of phylogenetic analyses as a source of information for the risk assessment of transgenic silver birch carrying a sugar beet chitinase IV gene was evaluated. Thirteen partial chitinase-like sequences, with an approximate length of 600 bp, were obtained from the EST-libraries. The sequences belonged to five chitinase classes. Some bacterial chitinases from Streptomyces and Burkholderia, as well as a chitinase from an oomycete, Phytophthora infestans, grouped together with the class IV chitinases of plants, supporting the hypothesis that some class IV chitinases in bacteria have evolved from eukaryotic chitinases via horizontal gene transfer. According to our analyses, HGT of a chitinase IV gene from eukaryotes to bacteria has presumably occurred only once. Based on this, the likelihood for the HGT of chitinase IV gene from transgenic birch to other organisms is extremely low. However, as risk is a function of both the likelihood and consequences of an event, the effects of rare HGT event(s) will finally determine the level of the risk.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"7 4","pages":"227-39"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1051/ebr:2008019","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27898236","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Societal attitudes regarding GM food: the case of Poland within the European Union.","authors":"Tomasz Twardowski","doi":"10.1051/ebr:2008016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr:2008016","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"7 4","pages":"181-4"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"28042544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Population size and incidence of virus infection in free-living populations of Cucurbita pepo.","authors":"Hector Quemada,&nbsp;Laura Strehlow,&nbsp;Deena S Decker-Walters,&nbsp;Jack E Staub","doi":"10.1051/ebr:2008022","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr:2008022","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Impact assessments of virus resistance transgene introgression into wild, free-living populations are important for determining whether these transgenes present a risk to agriculture or the environment. Transgenic virus-resistant Cucurbita pepo ssp. ovifera var. ovifera L. (squash) cultivars have been commercialized, and may be cultivated in close proximity to cross-compatible wild, free-living relatives (C. pepo subsp. pepo vars. ozarkana and texana). Therefore, the potential impact of these virus resistance transgenes was studied by surveying the incidence and fluctuations of virus infection (as assayed by ELISA), virus symptoms (which may not be seen in an infected plant) and population size in forty-three free-living C. pepo populations in Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. Ten of these populations were studied over three consecutive seasons. Depending on the year, 61% to 78% percent of the populations had at least one individual infected by at CMV, ZYMV or WMV2, but the median incidence of infection within populations was 13%. The observed infection level in free-living populations was consistent with levels defined as \"low\" in field plot experiments conducted by others, leading to the conclusion that transgenic virus resistance should not provide a significant fitness advantage to the free-living populations examined. Viral symptoms were detected in only 2% of plants observed, indicating that severity of viral infection was low. CMV, ZYMV, and WMV2 were not the only viruses infecting these populations, further reducing the likelihood that resistance to these viruses would release populations from constraints imposed by virus diseases.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"7 4","pages":"185-96"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27898868","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Gene stacking in transgenic plants: towards compliance between definitions, terminology, and detection within the EU regulatory framework.","authors":"Isabel Taverniers,&nbsp;Nina Papazova,&nbsp;Yves Bertheau,&nbsp;Marc De Loose,&nbsp;Arne Holst-Jensen","doi":"10.1051/ebr:2008018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1051/ebr:2008018","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The combination or stacking of different traits or genes in plants is rapidly gaining popularity in biotech crop production. Here we review the existing terminology regarding gene stacking in plants, and its implications in relation to genetics, biosafety, detectability and European regulations. Different methods of production of stacked gene traits, as well as the status of their cultivation and approval, are reviewed. Related to the different techniques of transformation and production, including classical breeding, and to differences in global authorization and commercialization practices, there are many types, definitions, and perceptions of stacking. These include: (1) stacking of traits and (2) stacking of events, which are the most widely accepted perceptions of stacking, and (3) stacking of genes, which from the analytical and traceability point of view may be a more appropriate perception. These differences in perceptions and definitions are discussed, as are their implications for analytical detection and regulatory compliance according to (in particular) European Union (EU) regulations. A comprehensive terminology regarding gene stacking with regulatory relevance is proposed. The haploid genome equivalent is proposed as the prevailing unit of measurement at all stages throughout the chain, in order to ensure that terminology and definitions of gene stacks are adapted to analytical detection, traceability, and compliance with EU regulations.</p>","PeriodicalId":87177,"journal":{"name":"Environmental biosafety research","volume":"7 4","pages":"197-218"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1051/ebr:2008018","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"27898233","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}