Ecological aspects of cross-pollination of transgenic plants with increased organ size and their non-transgenic relatives through the example of tobacco

In this article we presented the results of transfer of ARGOS and ARGOS-LIKE genes from transgenic tobacco, cultivar Petit Havana, to other cultivars and species of Nicotiana genus by artificial cross-pollination. We examined phenotypic effects of transgenes in two generations of hybrids. Presence of transgenes is confirmed by PCR analysis. Phenotypic effects of expression of ARGOS-LIKE gene substantially increased in comparison with parental transgenic plants whereas effects of ARGOS gene decreased or stayed at the same level. Due to cross-pollination we gained hybrid plants with both genes and investigated gene transfer to the other species.