Presentation: Gene Flow Within and Between Domesticated Crops and Their Wild Progenitors

Speaker: Paul Gepts, UC Davis professor of agronomy

Symposium name: Impacts of Biotechnology on Biodiversity and Environment

Symposium date and time: Saturday, Feb. 15, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Gene flow is the transfer of genes from one population to another by seed or pollen. Although the issue of escape of transgenes through gene flow was first raised some 20 years ago, concerns have not abated, as shown by recent events such as the potential introduction of transgenic plants in centers of crop domestication (maize in Mexico, sunflower in the United States, rice and soybean in China), unintended use of transgenic crops (Starlink episode in the United States), and the potential escape of pharmaceutical compounds produced in plants (Prodigene incident in the United States).

The research into the different steps of gene flow has generally been insufficient to adequately predict consequences of gene flow and to set a foundation for regulatory policies. In this talk, Gepts will explain how genes might travel from domestic crops to their wild relatives and evaluate the associated risks, such as effects on non-target organisms and reduction in genetic diversity. He will discuss the potential for the development of food crops as factories for pharmaceutical products and discuss genetic strategies to limit gene flow involving transgenes.

He also will discuss how the development of transgenic crops is taking place in a socio-economic context of increasing concentration in the seed industry, which may lead to further reductions in genetic diversity within crops.