A highly efficient system to remove foreign genes from pollen of transgenic tobacco plants.

摘要

Although the potentially negative environmental impact of GM pollen has been of concern to both the public and the scientific communities, none of the existing technologies to address this problem is broadly applicable for field crops. Here we report a novel "gene-deletor" system that is exceptionally efficient for excising all foreign genes from pollen of GM plants. In addition to eliminating the pollen-mediated transgene pollution problem of GM plants, the "gene-deletor" system with minor modifications could be used to produce non-transgenic seeds or fruits from transgenic crops and to protect proprietary transgenic plant technologies. The technology may provide an alternative tool to address the pollen- and seed-mediated GM gene spread problem of vegetatively propagated ornamental and forest plants.