Pre-Conference GMCC-05 Workshop on EU QLK’s ANGEL programme
Date: Sunday, November 13, 2005 until Sunday, November 13, 2005.
The EU project “ANGEL” (Quality of Life Programme’s theme “The Cell Factory”, QLK-CT-2001-01657) addresses key issues in gene flow and environmental safety of transgenic crops, using two crops species from the Asteraceae family as model systems: lettuce (Lactuca sativa) and chicory (Cichorium intybus). These key issues are: (1) Studying wild lettuce’s recent increase in habitat and geographic distribution as example of an expansive “weedy” species; could this be an effect of past crop-wild relative introgression events? (2) Testing the possibilities of various molecular marker systems to identify such past introgression from Lettuce and Chicory to wild relatives; (3) Experimentally testing the effects of such introgression on plant population fitness, applying field studies on several hybrid-generations and application of demographic models; The overall aim of ANGEL was to come to a higher level of generalization and predictability of crop-wild relatives hybridization effects by using a modeling approach, by making the important step from establishment of the occurrence of gene flow, as has been proven in many cases, to its long-term ecological effects. The overall aim is highlighted by including to this workshop various modeling approaches at different ecological and spatial scales. The here announced workshop is held in order to disseminate the results of the ANGEL project to a broad audience. The workshop is open (without costs) for an audience of scientists, and other stakeholders, such as authorities involved in the GMO regulatory process, and NGOs and immediately precedes the second Conference on Coexistence of GM and non-GM crops GMCC-05 (November 14th and 15th). For information and registration, please send a mail to Plant Research International (Rene.Smulders@wur.nl).
Place: Montpellier, France.
For additional information contact: Rene Smulders.
Closing date for on-line subscription: Friday, November 11, 2005.