Gene flow and establishment of transgenes in natural plant populations

In this paper the possibilities are indicated to model the introgression of a domestication gene, especially a transgene, into a wild plant population. The entire process of introgression consists of two phases, i.e. gene flow by pollen (hybridization) or by seed (escape), and establishment. A literature survey demonstrated that a lot of information is available on the first phase (gene flow), although seed dispersal is less studied than pollen dispersal. The second phase of introgression (establishment) is hardly studied in a quantitative way. It is important to focus further research on fitness effects of establishment, because even at low levels of gene flow a (trans)gene will finally succeed in entering a wild population. In this paper several parts of a simulation model are described. In case of small wild populations a stochastic model should be used in order to account for genetic drift.