£4·5m for new studies on gene flow in GM and conventional agriculture

23 November 2000

New research, totalling around £4·5m, into the behaviour and transfer of genes within and between plants and microbes is announced today by the Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).

Fifteen projects are the first to be funded under the joint BBSRC/NERC initiative on Gene Flow in Plants and Microorganisms that was announced in February 2000. Together they explore how the activities and interactions of individual genes in plants and microbes may feed through to changes in behaviour at the level of populations in the environment. For the first time, views from a public consultation contributed to assessing the priorities of the research programme.

Just over half of the new projects will address questions about the extent to which genes can move between organisms (of the same or different species) and how the past impact and potential future consequences of such gene flow can be evaluated and the risks assessed.

"Decisions on funding under this initiative were made on the basis of the scientific excellence of the proposals. We also considered their relevance to gaps in our current knowledge about the behaviour of genes that have been introduced into crops, either by conventional breeding or genetic modification (GM), in terms of their interactions with other genes in the plant and other species in the environment, " said Professor Alistair Hetherington of the University of Lancaster, who chaired the Assessment Panel.

"In making its decisions, the Panel took into consideration the views submitted to the BBSRC/NERC consultation web site. These were helpful in identifying projects that address specific public concerns," he said.

Several of the new projects will explore what happens at the molecular level when new genes are introduced into a plant's DNA. For example, some will look at how the site of insertion on the chromosomes can influence the behaviour of newly introduced genes. Another will study how the activity of introduced genes may be affected by infection of the plant by viruses that can interfere with the switching on and off of genes in the plant. Some of the new research will also focus on the role of pollen in gene transfer between crops and from crops to weeds.

Many of the projects are directly relevant to risk assessment issues and public concerns about GM crops and will extend existing areas of research. For example, one project will investigate the interactions between GM plants, pests that feed on them and parasites that feed on the pests, with a view to evaluating the risks that "superpests" might inadvertently be produced by some GM crops. Others will extend research into the frequency and significance of gene transfer between microbes in the soil, and between plants and microbes.

One project by NERC's Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and the National Institute for Agricultural Botany looks at the risks to fitness posed by genetic modification to both crop plants and their wild relatives if the plants are made resistant to pathogens. The research will investigate which parts of plants' life cycles control fitness (defined as the number of seeds produced per seed sown) and the extent to which fungal pathogens affect that fitness. The next stage will look at whether inserting genes offering resistance to infections will also affect fitness.

A key public concern about GM crops is the extent to which they are equivalent to conventionally bred varieties. At the Institute of Arable Crops Research a team will use the emerging tools of genomics technology to determine what happens to the activity of all the genes in a plant when a single new gene is introduced by GM. They are particularly interested in determining not only what changes happen, but also how predictable they are. The crop being studied is wheat. The scientists will insert a single gene associated with good bread-making properties into wheat plants and see how the behaviour of all of the plant's genes is affected, and how it compares with the genetic activity of wheat varieties that have been conventionally bred for good bread-making characteristics.

Further information

Monica Winstanley
BBSRC
Tel: 01793 413204

NERC Press Office
Natural Environment Research Council
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1EU
Tel: 01793 411561
Mob: 07917 557215

Notes

1. All of the grants are being awarded on the condition that the researchers comply with all regulatory requirements regarding the use of GM organisms.

2. The web-based consultation was a new initiative by the research councils to add openness and transparency to their decision-making processes and enhance dialogue with the public on developments in a controversial area involving science. In February 2000 a website was set up and the initiative announced on BBSRC and NERC's websites, via a press release and by mailing to a broad audience of interested parties.

Press release: 22/00

£4·5m for new studies on gene flow in GM and conventional agriculture

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