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Identifying the Risks of Transgene Escape from Sugarcane Crops to Related Species, with Particular Reference to Saccharum spontaneum in Australia

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Abstract

Sugarcane is a major crop of tropical and sub-tropical climates. Modern cultivars are hybrids of several Saccharum species. Many attempts have been made to make intergeneric crosses to increase the diversity of germplasm available for breeding. Currently methods of incorporating new traits through genetic manipulation are also being researched. A review of the attempts by breeders to make hybridisations with sugarcane has been performed to determine the likelihood of spontaneous transfer of a transgene to a range of other species. When combined with the list of sexually compatible species growing outside of cultivation in Australia, Saccharum spontaneum L. was considered to be the most likely to spontaneously hybridise with commercial sugarcane. Using a combination of local knowledge and herbarium samples, S. spontaneum has been documented at five previously unpublished locations in Australia. Analysis of the DNA of plants growing at each of these locations, by molecular markers, showed vegetative propagation at three sites, predominantly vegetative propagation at a fourth and the presence of a more diverse set of plants at the fifth. At the latter location there may have been multiple introductions, interbreeding between clones or both. An analysis of both pollen and seed viability from these plants would discriminate between these options and determine whether S. spontaneum is interbreeding with commercial sugarcane.

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Acknowledgements

The work reported here was aided by many people. The authors thank George Piperidis (BSES Ltd) for providing the sample from the Daly River; Ron Kerkwyk, Tony McLintock and Leanne Carr (Herbert Productivity Services), Michael Porta and Alan Hurney (BSES Ltd) for assistance with identifying sites where Saccharum spontaneum was growing; Les Marsh for piloting the Mulgrave River survey and Biotechnology Australia for partly funding that survey; Lawrence DiBella (BSES Ltd) and Vince Vitale for assistance with the Herbert River survey; Bryan Simon (QEPA-Queensland Herbarium) for information and access to herbarium samples and Jingchaun Li (CSIRO) for technical assistance with the marker studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CRC for Sugar Industry Innovation through Biotechnology, University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia

    G. D. Bonnett, E. Nowak, J. J. Olivares-Villegas, N. Berding, T. Morgan & K. S. Aitken

  2. CSIRO Plant Industry, Queensland Bioscience Precinct, 306 Carmody Road, St Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia

    G. D. Bonnett, E. Nowak, J. J. Olivares-Villegas & K. S. Aitken

  3. Griffith University, Nathan Campus, QLD, 4111, Australia

    E. Nowak

  4. BSES Ltd, P.O. Box 122, Gordonvale, QLD, 4865, Australia

    N. Berding

  5. CSR Ltd, Kalamia Mill Estate, Ayr, QLD, 4807, Australia

    T. Morgan

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  1. G. D. Bonnett
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  2. E. Nowak
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  3. J. J. Olivares-Villegas
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  4. N. Berding
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  5. T. Morgan
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  6. K. S. Aitken
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Correspondence to G. D. Bonnett.

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Communicated by Ray Ming

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Bonnett, G.D., Nowak, E., Olivares-Villegas, J.J. et al. Identifying the Risks of Transgene Escape from Sugarcane Crops to Related Species, with Particular Reference to Saccharum spontaneum in Australia. Tropical Plant Biol. 1, 58–71 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12042-007-9002-x

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