FROM TRANSGENE EXPRESSION TO PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE OF TRANSGENIC PLANTS -A MATTER OF PREDICTABILITY

A good strategy for acceptable legislation of transgenic plants can be thought to be composed of several stacked levels of decision-making, These levels range from global to individual to cellular to nuclear an d beyond. Any decision will depend on decisions made on the levels bel ow. Various examples are given, with emphasis on the most basal level, the level of transgene expression. Plant transformation suffers from a huge variability in transgene expression. In addition, in recent yea rs a variety of (epi)genetic transgene instabilities have been describ ed. It is demonstrated that the addition of so-called matrix-associate d regions (MARs) around transgenes before Agrobacterium-mediated trans formation improves the predictability of transgene expression signific antly. MARs are thought to function as boundary elements that shield t he enclosed transgenes from influences of the surrounding chromatin. A ssuming that such boundary elements will make transgene expression ove rall more predictable, this approach is then likely to contribute to a more straight-forward assessment of the biosafety of transgenic plant s. This will enhance the social acceptance, hence more successful mark et introduction of transgenic plants.