247 Genetics

Video about the unseen biotech industry

Video about how Spanish biotechnology is growing faster than most developed countries in the world.

Scientists from the Nairobi-headquartered international research centre icipe, in collaboration with the French Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) found that bees have the potential to mediate the escape of transgenes (genetically engineered material) from crops over several kilometres.USAID and the Rockefeller Foundation funded the research after the release of insect-resistant genetically engineered cowpea in Africa. Scientists used radio tracking to determine the movements of the carpenter bee and their long-distance pollen flow.

Icipe scientist Remy S. Pasquet explains,“Bees can visit flowers as far as six kilometres away from their nest. From complete flight records in which bees visited wild and domesticated plant populations, we concluded that bees can mediate gene flow, and potentially allow transgenes to escape over several kilometres.” Remy Pasquet also adds, “that for genetically engineered cowpea in Africa, these results indicate that although pollen movement beyond a few hundred meters has a low probability, strict isolation by distance may not be feasible.”This research confirms the hypothesis of deploying genetically engineered cowpea in sub-Saharan Africa may mean that an escape of the transgene to the wild cowpea relative is inevitable. Findings from this study have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

By: Chavonne Jones