Engineered Cleistogamy in for bioconfinement.

is a self-pollinating and facultative outcrossing oilseed crop. Genetic engineering has been used to improve camelina yield potential for altered fatty acid composition, modified protein profiles, improved seed and oil yield, and enhanced drought resistance. The deployment of transgenic camelina in the field posits high risks related to the introgression of transgenes into non-transgenic camelina and wild relatives. Thus, effective bioconfinement strategies need to be developed to prevent pollen-mediated gene flow (PMGF) from transgenic camelina. In the present study, we overexpressed the cleistogamy (i.e. floral petal non-openness)-inducing gene from peach in transgenic camelina. Transgenic camelina overexpressing showed three levels of cleistogamy, affected pollen germination rates after anthesis but not during anthesis, and caused a minor silicle abortion only on the main branches. We also conducted field trials to examine the effects of the overexpressed on PMGF in the field, and found that the overexpressed dramatically inhibited PMGF from transgenic camelina to non-transgenic camelina under the field conditions. Thus, the engineered cleistogamy using the overexpressed is a highly effective bioconfinement strategy to limit PMGF from transgenic camelina, and could be used for bioconfinement in other dicot species.