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Potential gene flow of two herbicide-tolerant transgenes from oilseed rape to wild B. juncea var. gracilis

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Abstract

Four successive reciprocal backcrosses between F1 (obtained from wild Brassica juncea as maternal plants and transgenic glyphosate- or glufosinate-tolerant oilseed rape, B. napus, as paternal plants) or subsequent herbicide-tolerant backcross progenies and wild B. juncea were achieved by hand pollination to assess potential transgene flow. The third and forth reciprocal backcrosses produced a number of seeds per silique similar to that of self-pollinated wild B. juncea, except in plants with glufosinate-tolerant backcross progeny used as maternal plants and wild B. juncea as paternal plants, which produced fewer seeds per silique than did self-pollinated wild B. juncea. Germination percentages of reciprocal backcross progenies were high and equivalent to those of wild B. juncea. The herbicide-tolerant first reciprocal backcross progenies produced fewer siliques per plant than did wild B. juncea, but the herbicide-tolerant second or third reciprocal backcross progenies did not differ from the wild B. juncea in siliques per plant. The herbicide-tolerant second and third reciprocal backcross progenies produced an amount of seeds per silique similar to that of wild B. juncea except for with the glufosinate-tolerant first and second backcross progeny used as maternal plants and wild B. juncea as paternal plants. In the presence of herbicide selection pressure, inheritance of the glyphosate-tolerant transgene was stable across the second and third backcross generation, whereas the glufosinate-tolerant transgene was maintained, despite a lack of stabilized introgression. The occurrence of fertile, transgenic weed-like plants after only three crosses (F1, first backcross, second backcross) suggests a potential rapid spread of transgenes from oilseed rape into its wild relative wild B. juncea. Transgene flow from glyphosate-tolerant oilseed rape might be easier than that from glufosinate-tolerant oilseed rape to wild B. juncea. The original insertion site of the transgene could affect introgression.

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Acknowledgments

This research was financially supported by the National Basic Research and Development Program (2007CB109202) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (30400059). We express our deep appreciation to Dr. Robert E. Blackshaw, Suzanne Warwick, Yong Woong Kwon and Tae Jin Yang for their valuable comments on this manuscript.

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  1. Weed Research Laboratory, Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, 210095, China

    Xiaoling Song, Zhou Wang, Jiao Zuo, Chaohe Huangfu & Sheng Qiang

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  1. Xiaoling Song
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  2. Zhou Wang
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  3. Jiao Zuo
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  4. Chaohe Huangfu
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Correspondence to Sheng Qiang.

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Communicated by A. Bervillé.

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Song, X., Wang, Z., Zuo, J. et al. Potential gene flow of two herbicide-tolerant transgenes from oilseed rape to wild B. juncea var. gracilis . Theor Appl Genet 120, 1501–1510 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00122-010-1271-3

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