Monitoring the presence and expression of transgenes in living plants

A range of bio- and nanotechnologies have been developed that could be adapted towards monitoring the presence and expression of transgenes, in real time and in the field, in plants of agronomic and ecological importance. Transgene escape from crop hosts to wild relatives or landraces is one example in which monitoring might be useful, depending on the ecological impact of the transgene. In addition, there might be nonbiosafety-related practical reasons to monitor transgene expression. Transgenes can be tagged with green fluorescent protein and imaged or measured using instruments designed to detect fluorescence signals on the plant. In addition, nanotechnologies using aptamers, quantum dots and molecular beacons are rapidly evolving and could also be used for post hoc (after transformation) in vivo monitoring. These nanotechnologies have the benefit of being useful on a post hoc basis.