Some Torenia species are grown as garden plants Photo: Forest and Kim Starr/USGS

The Australian company, Florigene, has filed an Australian application for the limited and controlled release of  the ornamental flowering plant, torenia, genetically modified for enhanced phosphate uptake.

Three lines of around 400 plants of the modified Torenia x hybrida will be grown on a site up to 20m² in the City of Darebin, Victoria, between October 2008 and May 2009.

The plants were modified via Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformation and contain the phosphate signalling response gene, PHR1, which is thought to play a role in plant responses to phosphate deficiency.

The proposed trial involves growing the torenia hydroponically to examine both phosphate uptake and slow or repressed algal overgrowth in the surrounding water.

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A number of control measures have been outlined for the study, including locating the trial site within Florigene greenhouses, in turn surrounded by a 2.1 metre fence and lockable gates, monitoring the site on a biweekly basis, post- harvest monitoring of the trial site, destroying all plant materials not required for analysis and not using the plants in human food or animal feed.

The parent organism, Torenia x hybrida, is exotic to Australia but commercially available for home planting. The modified lines provide a sterile hybrid that does not set seed or produce viable pollen. There have been no previous releases of the GM lines in Australia, although GM torenia with altered flower colour have been previously approved for limited and controlled release.

One of the promoters used to control expression of the introduced gene in one of the three GM lines has been declared Confidential Commercial Information (CCI).

The Risk Assessment and Risk Management Plan (RARMP) is expected for release in early July 2008.

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