2009-09-14 | permalink

Crossbreeding GM crops may increase fitness of wild relatives

A new study has investigated the effects of interbreeding a genetically modified squash crop with its wild relative. The findings demonstrate that it could cause wild or weedy relatives to become more resistant to disease. [...] The researchers compared the resistance of wild squash and plants that were a hybrid of the cultivated and wild squash varieties to viruses. One half of the hybrids were GM, containing a gene that rendered the plant resistant to zucchini yellow mosaic virus, and the other half were conventional non-GM plants, which had not been specifically bred for virus resistance.

• European Commission DG Environment, Belgium: Crossbreeding GM crops may increase fitness of wild relatives