Insecticidal transgenes into nature: gene flow, ecological effects, relevancy, and monitoring

Highly effective genes conferring pest resistance have been and are being e ngineered into crop plants. There is a strong likelihood that these transge nes will be transferred from agronomic ecosystems into natural ecosystems. There will be ecological risks ranging from creating more invasive weeds to affecting beneficial insects. I argue for the need of relevancy in choosin g appropriate experimental systems for assessing ecological risks of commer cial transgenic insecticidal crops. Finally, I will describe a transgene mo nitoring system based upon green fluorescent protein (GFP), and how it may be used commercially.