Department of Plant Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
Ecol Appl. 2012 Jan;22(1):3-7. doi: 10.1890/11-1516.1.
There currently exists a large push for the use, improvement, and expansion via landscape modification of dedicated biofuel crops (feedstocks) in the United States and in many parts of the world. Ecological concerns have been voiced because many biofuel feedstocks exhibit characteristics associated with invasiveness, and due to potential negative consequences of agronomic genes in native wild populations. Seed purity concerns for biofuel feedstock cultivars whose seeds would be harvested in agronomic fields also exist from the agribusiness sector. The common thread underlying these concerns, which have regulatory implications, is gene flow; thus detailed knowledge of gene flow in biofuel crop plants is important in the formulation of environmental risk management plans. Here, we synthesize the current state of knowledge of gene flow in an exemplary biofuel crop, switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), which is native to eastern North America and is currently experiencing conventional and technological advances in biomass yields and ethanol production. Surprisingly little is known regarding aspects of switchgrass pollen flow and seed dispersal, and whether native populations of conspecific or congeneric relatives will readily cross with current agronomic switchgrass cultivars. We pose that filling these important gaps will be required to confront the sustainability challenges of widespread planting of biofuel feedstocks.
目前，在美国和世界许多地方，人们大力提倡使用、改进和扩大专门的生物燃料作物（原料），并通过景观改造来实现这一目标。人们对生物燃料原料的生态问题表示担忧，因为许多生物燃料原料表现出与入侵性相关的特征，而且农业基因可能对本地野生种群产生负面影响。农业综合企业部门还对将在农业领域收获的生物燃料原料品种的种子纯度表示关注。这些存在监管影响的问题的共同点是基因流；因此，详细了解生物燃料作物中的基因流对于制定环境风险管理计划非常重要。在这里，我们综合了目前关于示范生物燃料作物柳枝稷（Panicum virgatum L.）基因流的知识状况，柳枝稷原产于北美东部，目前其生物量产量和乙醇产量正在经历常规和技术上的进步。令人惊讶的是，人们对柳枝稷花粉流动和种子传播的各个方面，以及本地同种或同属亲缘种是否会轻易与当前的农业柳枝稷品种杂交，知之甚少。我们提出，要应对广泛种植生物燃料原料的可持续性挑战，就必须填补这些重要的空白。
