Abstract
Gene flow from genetically modified (GM) crops to wild relatives might affect the evolutionary dynamics of weedy populations and result in the persistence of escaped genes. To examine the effects of this gene flow, the growth of F1 hybrids that were formed by pollinating wild soybean (Glycine soja) with glyphosate-tolerant GM soybean (G. max) or its non-GM counterpart was examined in a greenhouse. The wild soybean was collected from two geographical populations in China. The performance of the wild soybean and the F2 hybrids was further explored in a field trial. Performance was measured by several vegetative and reproductive growth parameters, including the vegetative growth period, pod number, seed number, above-ground biomass and 100-seed weight. The pod setting percentage was very low in the hybrid plants. Genetically modified hybrid F1 plants had a significantly longer period of vegetative growth, higher biomass and lower 100-seed weight than the non-GM ones. The 100-seed weight of both F1 and F2 hybrids was significantly higher than that of wild soybean in both the greenhouse and the field trial. No difference in plant growth was found between GM and non-GM F2 hybrids in the field trial. The herbicide-resistant gene appeared not to adversely affect the growth of introgressed wild soybeans, suggesting that the escaped transgene could persist in nature in the absence of herbicide use.
Highlights
Modified (GM) crops produced using modern biotechnology have developed tolerances to biotic and abiotic factors, including herbicide and/or insecticide resistance
The successful Genetically modified (GM) hybrid had an enolpyruvylshikimate-3phosphate synthase (EPSPS) gene fragment of 146 bp [see Supporting Information—Fig. S1A and B], and the successful non-GM hybrid F1 detected by simple sequence repeat (SSR) – polymerase chain reaction (PCR) had two bands [one the same as the wild female parent (100 bp), and the other the same as the male crop parent (300 bp)] [see Supporting Information—Fig. S1C]
The results showed that there was no difference in plant growth performance between GM and non-GM F2 hybrids
Summary
Modified (GM) crops produced using modern biotechnology have developed tolerances to biotic and abiotic factors, including herbicide and/or insecticide resistance. The release of GM crops has raised concerns that gene introgression could occur from these crops to wild or weedy populations (Snow 2002; Lu and Snow 2005; Andow and Zwahlen 2006). Performance measurement of hybrids can predict the ecological consequences of transgene spread from GM crops to wild relatives (Stewart et al 2003; Hails and Morley 2005). The probability of transgene introgression into populations of compatible relatives is highly dependent on the performance of the F1 hybrid and the subsequent generations (Lu and Snow 2005; Laughlin et al 2009). The performance of a single plant or group, which may indicate the adaptive, competitive
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