Recent Findings: 2002 Movement and ecological performance of Bt transgenes from canola to wild relatives. USDA Biotechnology Risk Assessment Research Grants Program. Field studies have been performed to assess the outcrossing frequencies from transgenic canola to its wild relative Brassica rapa and in backcrossed hybrids to the weedy parent. In addition, competition experiments against wheat have been performed to assess a transgenic BC2 F2 population's ability to compete as a weed in comparison to a non-transgenic isoline, and the wildtype weed. In the gene flow studies, we have shown that there are some transgenic events in which the genes do not flow at the same frequency as other events-there could be safe spots to place transgenes to mitigate unwanted gene flow. An unexpected result was the very low gene flow from F1 crop x weed hybrids to B. rapa in the field. However, the most important result was found in the first year field experiment of the competition study. The transgenic Bt weed competed less well against wheat compared with the non-transgenic isoline weed and the wildtype weed. The results indicate that genes will not flow out of canola and into weeds with the high frequency that lab results predicted and that, in the absence of selection, the resultant Bt transgenic Bt B. rapa backcrossed hybrids will not become feared superweeds. Impacts: Many people are concerned in transgenes (genes from other organisms in genetically modified plants) moving from crops to wild plants and having undesirable side effects (from increased weediness to invasiveness). This research is a continuance of a series of investigations designed to determine the movement and the ramifications of movement of a transgene from canola to wild relatives. Canola is a crop that is amenable to genetic modification and transgenes may more from it to weedy wild relatives. One transgene that might be useful to canola and other crop production comes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). The Bt gene product kills caterpillars that might eat plant leaves, and could also help the wild relatives (sometimes weeds) survive better. The research analyzes the rate that transgenes move via hybridization from crop to wild relative in the field. To facilitate the research, we are using a marker gene that encodes a protein that can be seen (a Bt gene cannot); green fluorescent protein (GFP). By using a GFP-tagged Bt gene, we are analyzing plant populations of transgenic crop and weed. We are comparing the competitive ability of Bt transgenic weeds and non-transgenic weeds relative to crop (canola or wheat) performance. These experiments are important because they will yield the first estimates of the impact of fitness enhancing transgenes in wild plants.