Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Mol Ecol. 2012 Oct;21(19):4663-4. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2012.05695.x.
Ecologists have paid close attention to environmental effects that fitness-enhancing transgenes might have following crop-to-wild gene flow (e.g. Snow et al. 2003). For some crops, gene flow also can lead to legal problems,especially when government agencies have not approved transgenic events for unrestricted environmental release.Creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera), a common turf grass used in golf courses, is the focus of both areas of concern. In 2002, prior to expected deregulation (still pending), The Scotts Company planted creeping bentgrass with transgenic resistance to the herbicide glyphosate,also known as RoundUp, on 162 ha in a designated control area in central Oregon (Fig. 1).Despite efforts to restrict gene flow, wind-dispersed pollen carried transgenes to florets of local A. stolonifera and A. gigantea as far as 14 km away, and to sentinel plants placed as far as 21 km away (Watrud et al. 2004).Then, in August 2003, a strong wind event moved transgenic seeds from wind rows of cut bentgrass into nearby areas. The company’s efforts to kill all transgenic survivors in the area failed: feral glyphosate-resistant populations of A. stolonifera were found by Reichman et al.(2006), and 62% of 585 bentgrass plants had the telltale CP4 EPSPS transgene in 2006 (Zapiola et al. 2008; Fig. 2).Now, in this issue, the story gets even more interesting as Zapiola & Mallory-Smith (2012) describe a transgenic,intergeneric hybrid produced on a feral, transgenic creeping bentgrass plant that received pollen from Polypogon monspeliensis (rabbitfoot grass). Their finding raises a host of new questions about the prevalence and fitness of intergeneric hybrids, as well as how to evaluate the full extent of gene flow from transgenic crops.
生态学家密切关注与作物向野生种群基因流相关的、可能增强适合度的转基因的环境效应（例如 Snow 等人，2003 年）。对于某些作物来说，基因流也可能导致法律问题，特别是当政府机构尚未批准不受限制的环境释放的转基因事件时。匍匐翦股颖（Agrostis stolonifera），一种常用于高尔夫球场的常见草坪草，是这两个关注领域的焦点。2002 年，在预期的去监管（仍在等待中）之前，The Scotts 公司在俄勒冈州中部一个指定的控制区内的 162 公顷土地上种植了具有抗草甘膦（也称为 RoundUp）除草剂转基因特性的匍匐翦股颖，尽管努力限制基因流，但风散花粉将转基因带到了当地匍匐翦股颖和大匍匐翦股颖的花序中，距离最远可达 14 公里，还带到了放置在 21 公里远的哨兵植物上（Watrud 等人，2004 年）。然后，在 2003 年 8 月，一场强风事件将转基因种子从刈割的匍匐翦股颖的风播行中吹到附近地区。该公司试图杀死该地区所有转基因存活个体的努力失败了：Reichman 等人发现了野生的抗草甘膦匍匐翦股颖种群（2006 年），并且在 2006 年，585 株匍匐翦股颖中有 62%具有标志性的 CP4 EPSPS 转基因（Zapiola 等人，2008 年；图 2）。现在，在本期中，Zapiola 和 Mallory-Smith（2012 年）描述了一个有趣的故事，一个转基因、属间杂种是在一个野生的、转基因的匍匐翦股颖植物上产生的，该植物接收了来自多花黑麦草（兔子草）的花粉。他们的发现提出了一系列关于属间杂种的普遍性和适合度的新问题，以及如何评估转基因作物基因流的全部范围。
