AN ASSESSMENT OF GENE-TRANSFER BY POLLEN FROM FIELD-GROWN TRANSGENIC POTATOES TO NONTRANSGENIC POTATOES AND RELATED SPECIES

Information on the extent of transgene dispersal by pollen to adjacent potato plots and to related weed species is an important requisite fo r risk assessment; a procedure followed before novel transgenic plants are evaluated under field conditions. The purpose of the investigatio n was to determine the frequency of cross-pollination between potato ( Solanum tuberosum) plants at different distances, using a kanamycin re sistance transgene (nptII) as a selectable marker. All potato plants w ere from the variety Desiree. Non-transgenic potato plants, used as po tential recipients of transgene-containing pollen, were planted in 12 sub-plots, at distances of 0-20 m from the nearest transgenic potato p lants. Seeds harvested from the non-transgenic plants were screened fo r resistance to kanamycin, and molecular methods were used to confirm that resistant progeny contained the nptII gene. Where transgenic and non-transgenic potato plants were in alternate rows (leaves touching), 24% of seedlings from the non-transgenic parent plants were kanamycin -resistant. Comparable seedlings from plants at up to 3 m distance had a resistance frequency of 2%, at 10 m the frequency was 0.017% and at 20 m no resistant progeny were observed. Plants of the weed species S . dulcamara and S. nigrum were also planted close to the transgenic po tatoes to test for evidence of hybridization, and no kanamycin-resista nt seedlings were observed among progeny from S. dulcamara and S. nigr um. This investigation provided evidence that the extent of gene dispe rsal from transgenic potatoes to non-transgenic potatoes falls markedl y with increasing distance, and is negligible at 10 m. There was, also , no evidence of transgene movement from potato to S. dulcamara and S. nigrum under field conditions. These data will be valuable in definin g genctic isolation procedures for the early field evaluation and the use of novel transgenic potato genotypes.