Researchers have found a new way to reduce the escape of genes from genetically engineered plants, by modifying the DNA found in chloroplasts rather than DNA from the cell nucleus. Chloroplasts are subcellular structures that produce energy by photosynthesis. Researchers from the University of Reading describe their three-year study in the current Nature Biotechnology. It showed that gene escape from modified oilseed rape was negligible.
A related two-year study, in which oilseed rape seeds with modified chloroplast DNA were spilt among wild turnip, found that the seeds died off without transferring genes.