Summary Notification

General information

Notification Number
B/FR/03/02/07

Member State to which the notification was sent
France

Date of acknowledgement from the Member State Competent Authority
21/01/2003

Title of the Project
Field experiment of genetically modified hypolignified tall fescue

Proposed period of release:
01/01/2003 to 31/12/2003

Name of the Institute(s) or Company(ies)
Biogemma, ;

3. Is the same GMPt release planned elsewhere in the Community?
No

Has the same GMPt been notified elsewhere by the same notifier?
Yes

If yes, notification number(s):
B/FR/00/01/05;

Genetically modified plant

Complete name of the recipient or parental plant(s)

Common Name	Family Name	Genus	Species	Subspecies	Cultivar/breeding line
tall fescue	poaceae	festuca	festuca arundinacea

2. Description of the traits and characteristics which have been introduced or modified, including marker genes and previous modifications:
The genes introduced confers to the fescue both a glufosinate resistance and a hypolignified phenotype. There have been no previous genetic modifications of the parental organism.

Genetic modification

3. Type of genetic modification:
Insertion;

In case of insertion of genetic material, give the source and intended function of each constituent fragment of the region to be inserted:
35S promoter: Cauliflower mosaic virus non coding regulatory sequence
Actin1 promoter: Oriza sativa non coding regulatory sequence
ex:s-int/s: Zea mays non coding regulatory sequence
pat gene: Streptomyces viridochromogenes coding sequence
anti-sens cDNA: Festuca arundinacea coding sequence
nos3': Agrobacterium tumefaciens non coding regulatory sequence

6. Brief description of the method used for the genetic modification:
Transgenic fescue plants have been transformed through biolistic method.

7. If the recipient or parental plant is a forest tree species, describe ways and extent of dissemination and specific factors affecting dissemination:
Not applicable

Experimental Release

1. Purpose of the release:
The aims of the experimental release are:
(I) Production of material under agronomic condition
(II) in vitro measure of digestibility on harvest material
(III) evaluation of agronomic performance of the material compared to control plants

2. Geographical location of the site:
South-West of France (Aveyron and Haute-Garonne: Midi-Pyrénée); Center of France (Puy de Dôme: Auvergne).

3. Size of the site (m2):
1000 m2 for each location (border rows not included).

4. Relevant data regarding previous releases carried out with the same GM-plant, if any, specifically related to the potential environmental and human health impacts from the release:
The previous release of a tall fescue genetically engineered to be higher digestible (B/FR/00/01/05) has been destroyed on April 17th, 2001 which has stopped any data collection on the GM plants.

Environmental Impact and Risk Management

Summary of the potential environmental impact from the release of the GMPts:
The transgenic tall fescue are resistant to glufosinate herbicide. This trait can be expressed only in case of herbicide application and does not confer any competitive modification in the phenotype in case of classical agricultural management.
The hypolignified phenotype is liable to confer phenotype modifications which will be determined during the trial.
The possibility of hybridization with sexually compatible plants will be avoided by a regular cut of the trial to prevent flowering.

Brief description of any measures taken for the management of risks:
1. By cutting the trial regularly, the tall fescue plants will not be able to flower and to produce seeds, which will prevent the possibility of uncontrolled pollen or seed dissemination.
2. The trial will be surrounded by 1 meter all around by a blank area.
3. After completion of the trial, the transformed fescue plants will be destroyed by glyphosate application and incorporated in the soil.

Summary of foreseen field trial studies focused to gain new data on environmental and human health impact from the release:
Not applicable.

Final report
-

European Commission administrative information

Consent given by the Member State Competent Authority:
Not known

Notification report