Hybrids of Engineered Plants

Preliminary research using transgenic plants has been encouraging and discouraging. Here are some results that should challenge you the consumer to consider:

Can a transplanted gene be contained solely within a genetically engineered plant? Probably not! There are data to prove that domesticated grain, sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), can readily hybridize with a highly aggressive weed relative, johnsongrass (Sorghum balepense). These plants were of the same genus, but different species. And the new gene was in the hybrid.

• How do plants that are different species hybridize? You can see an example in this figure.

Can an inserted gene move from one plant species to a more distantly related plant species? Probably! In studies with the rape plant (Brassica napus), a species engineered to survive an herbicide, scientists found that this plant donated some of the weed herbicide resistance genes to a wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum).

• If the grain contained a gene to resist an herbicide and this gene is now in a noxious weed, what could you do to contain the hybrid weeds in the future?
• If you suggested using another herbicide to control the noxious weed, why make herbicide resistant plants in the first place?
• Can you think of a way to prevent hybridization so that human kind can benefit from the advantages of using genetically altered plants?
• Is the potential for hybridization of transgenic animals with other wild or domestic animals the same as it is for plants? Defend your answer.

Genetically engineered plants can exert pleiotropic effects, harm non-target organisms, create antibiotic resistance, and create problems up the food chain.