Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Originally published in Science Express on 9 October 2003
Science 17 October 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5644, pp. 457 - 459
DOI: 10.1126/science.1088200
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Hybridization Between Brassica napus and B. rapa on a National Scale in the United Kingdom

Mike J. Wilkinson,1* Luisa J. Elliott,2 Joël Allainguillaume,1 Michael W. Shaw,1 Carol Norris,3 Ruth Welters,4 Matthew Alexander,4 Jeremy Sweet,3 David C. Mason2

Measures blocking hybridization would prevent or reduce biotic or environmental change caused by gene flow from genetically modified (GM) crops to wild relatives. The efficacy of any such measure depends on hybrid numbers within the legislative region over the life-span of the GM cultivar. We present a national assessment of hybridization between rapeseed (Brassica napus) and B. rapa from a combination of sources, including population surveys, remote sensing, pollen dispersal profiles, herbarium data, local Floras, and other floristic databases. Across the United Kingdom, we estimate that 32,000 hybrids form annually in waterside B. rapa populations, whereas the less abundant weedy populations contain 17,000 hybrids. These findings set targets for strategies to eliminate hybridization and represent the first step toward quantitative risk assessment on a national scale.

1 School of Plant Sciences, The University of Reading, RG6 6AS, UK.
2 Natural Environment Research Council Environmental Systems Science Centre, The University of Reading, RG6 6AL, UK.
3 NIAB, Cambridge CB3 0LE, UK.
4 Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Winfrith, Dorset, UK.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: m.j.wilkinson{at}rdg.ac.uk

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
From the Cover: Emergence of tempered preferential attachment from optimization.
R. M. D'Souza, C. Borgs, J. T. Chayes, N. Berger, and R. D. Kleinberg (2007)
PNAS 104, 6112-6117
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Spontaneous gene flow from rapeseed (Brassica napus) to wild Brassica oleracea.
C. S Ford, J. Allainguillaume, P. Grilli-Chantler, G. Cuccato, C. J Allender, and M. J Wilkinson (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 3111-3115
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Assembling spatially explicit landscape models of pollen and spore dispersal by wind for risk assessment.
M.W Shaw, T.D Harwood, M.J Wilkinson, and L Elliott (2006)
Proc R Soc B 273, 1705-1713
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Transgenic Crops and Sustainable Agriculture in the European Context.
L. Ponti (2005)
Bulletin of Science Technology Society 25, 289-305
   Abstract »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)