Biological containment
Encyclopedia
Biological containment describes measures aimed at preventing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and their transgenes from spreading into the environment (for containment methods in closed research environments, see Biosafety level
).
In agriculture, biocontainment is helpful in protecting conventional and organic fields from admixture with GM crops growing on neighbouring fields. With the end of the de-facto moratorium on genetically modified plants in Europe, several research programmes (e.g. Co-Extra
, Transcontainer
) have begun investigating biological containment strategies for GMOs. Among the techniques under consideration are three major strategies based on cleistogamous plants, male-sterile plants and transplastomic plants.
Biosafety level
A biosafety level is the level of the biocontainment precautions required to isolate dangerous biological agents in an enclosed facility. The levels of containment range from the lowest biosafety level 1 to the highest at level 4 . In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and...
).
In agriculture, biocontainment is helpful in protecting conventional and organic fields from admixture with GM crops growing on neighbouring fields. With the end of the de-facto moratorium on genetically modified plants in Europe, several research programmes (e.g. Co-Extra
Co-Extra
Co-Extra is an EU-funded research programme on co-existence and traceability of genetically modified crops and their edible derivatives. It has been granted €13.5 million under the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Union, and is conducted by more than 200 scientists in 52 organisations in...
, Transcontainer
TransContainer
TransContainer is an intermodal freight transport company based in Russia. It is a subsidiary of RZD.It is Russia's main intermodal container transport and integrated logistics company; it transports over a million TEUs per year...
) have begun investigating biological containment strategies for GMOs. Among the techniques under consideration are three major strategies based on cleistogamous plants, male-sterile plants and transplastomic plants.
Biocontainment strategies
- In cleistogamous plantsCleistogamyCleistogamy or automatic self-pollination describes the trait of certain plants to propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers...
, flowers do not open, and thus release no pollen. - In male-sterile plants, no pollen is produced.
- In transplastomic plants, the genetic modification has been integrated in the DNA of chloroplasts, and the cell nucleus contains no transgenes; in some plant species, the pollen contains no chloroplasts and thus no transgenes.