Date: Thu, 25 May 2000
06:43:39 -0400 (EDT)
From: Richard Wolfson rwolfson@concentric.net GEN5-24
Report of Gene Transfer from G-E Rapeseed to Bacteria and Fungi in the Gut of Bees
by Dr. Beatrix Tappeser,
Institute for Applied Ecology
Postfach 6226, D-79038 Freiburg, Germany
Phone: (49)761-45295-39 Fax:(49)761-475437
email: tappeser@oeko.de
The
German Television ZDF reported on Sunday May 21 that a German researcher found
a gene transfer from genetically engineered rapeseed to bacteria and fungi in
the gut of honey bees. Prof. Hans-Hinrich Kaatz from the Institut für
Bienenkunde (Institute for bee research) at the University of
Jena experimented during the last three years with honey bees on an
experimental field with transgenic rapeseed in Saxony, Germany.
The
field trial was performed by AgrEvo, the rapeseed [fyi: canola is a
rapeseed oil]
was engineered to resist the herbicide glufosinate
(Liberty, Basta). Prof. Kaatz built nets in the field with the transgenic
rapeseed and let the bees fly freely within the net. At the beehives, he
installed pollen traps in order to sample the pollen loads from the bees´
hindlegs when entering the hive.
This
pollen was fed to young honey bees in the laboratory. (Pollen is the natural
diet of young bees which need a high protein diet). Then Prof.Kaatz took the
intestine out of the young bees and spread the contents on growth medium to
grow the microorganisms.
He
probed the microorganisms for the pat-gene, the gene that conferes resistance
to glufosinate. In some bacteria and also in a yeast hefound the pat-gene. This indicates that
the gene from the genetically engineered rapeseed was transferred in the bee´s
gut to the microbes.
(Summary
written by Greenpeace Germany)
Dr.
Beatrix Tappeser Institute for Applied Ecology Postfach 6226, D-79038 Freiburg
Phone: (49)761-45295-39 or 0 Fax:(49)761-475437 email: tappeser@oeko.de
http://home.intekom.com/tm_info/rw00524.htm#31