Insect resistant crops (IRC)

• Insects are a natural selection pressure so plants resistant to certain insects could have an evolutionary advantage (in natural environments)
• The ability of insects to rapidly adapt to environmental pressures suggests the development of insects resistant to IRC is likely
• Possible pleiotropic effects of the transgenes or gene interactions may alter traits such as seed dormancy, germination, tolerance to biotic or abiotic stresses, leading to increasing weediness or conversely decreasing fitness.
• Hybridisation with wild relatives (as a result of gene flow) may increase the fitness of wild plants reducing ability of natural predators to control them.