This paper is relevant to the impact areas in the following areas:
| Crops | Not Crop-Specific |
| Traits | Insect Res. (BT), Insect Resistance, Virus Resistance |
| Countries | Not country-specific |
| Regions | Not region-specific |
| Tags |
Development of genetically modified (GM) plants is contentious, in part because bacterial antibiotic resistance
(AR) genes are used in their construction and often become part of the plant genome. This arouses concern
that cultivation of GM plants might provide a reservoir of AR genes that could power the evolution of new
drug-resistant bacteria. We have considered bacterial DNA transfer systems (conjugation, transduction and
transformation) and mechanisms of recombination (homologous recombination, transposition, site-specific
recombination and DNA repair) that together might productively transfer AR genes from GM plants to bacterial
cells, but are unable to identify a credible scenario whereby new drug-resistant bacteria would be created.
However, we cannot entirely rule out the possibility of rare transfer events that involve novel mechanisms.
Hence, we also considered if occasional transfers of AR genes (blaTEM, aph(3′), aadA) from GM plants into
bacteria would pose a threat to public health. These AR genes are common in many bacteria and each is
found on mobile genetic elements that have moved extensively between DNA molecules and bacterial cells.
This gene mobility has already severely compromised clinical use of antibiotics to which resistance is
conferred. Accordingly, the argument that occasional transfer of these particular resistance genes from GM
plants to bacteria would pose an unacceptable risk to human or animal health has little substance. We
conclude that the risk of transfer of AR genes from GM plants to bacteria is remote, and that the hazard
arising from any such gene transfer is, at worst, slight.
An assessment of the risks associated with the use of antibiotic resistance genes in genetically modified plants: report of the Working Party of the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (held on an external server, and so may require additional authentication details)
CropLife International fully acknowledges the source and authors of the publication as detailed above.