Our industry 2014 - (Page 61)

  Technology in agriculture  04       61   Benefits of hybridization Marker-assisted breeding   Marker-assisted breeding  Marker-assisted (or molecular-assisted) breeding can provide a dramatic  improvement in the efficiency with which breeders can select plants with  desirable combinations of genes. It is used in advancing research both in   native (non-GM) traits and biotech (GM) traits.  accelerates the breeding  process while reducing  costs A molecular marker is a "genetic tag" that identifies a particular location within   a plant's DNA sequences. Plant breeders use genetic markers to identify the  versions of specific genes associated with a desirable trait; this allows them   to predict and guide performance at early stages of development. Genetic  markers, when tied to enhanced genetics knowledge, create a roadmap of the  genes and genetic effects in the plant. Markers allow the breeder to predict   the presence of specific characteristics even before the plant is fully grown.  Therefore, the efficiency and leverage of costly and time-consuming breeding  trials in the field or in greenhouses can be leveraged.  Marker-assisted breeding enables the outcome of the breeding process to be  optimized at the gene level, allowing for the development of plants with new  properties that are beneficial to the consumer, such as improved taste, without  incorporating undesirable foreign genes.  Marker-assisted breeding process 2-3 fewer backcrosses Desired gene Donor plant Commercial cultivar Breeding intermediate Undesirable gene Source: Syngenta Towards predictive breeding Most of the molecular markers used by breeders today are like road signs   along the highway. They are associated with a specific location on the genome,  but they do not reveal much about the location (the variant gene causing the  trait) itself. Advances in biology and genome sequencing are rapidly changing  this. Genome sequencing cost has come down exponentially over recent years,  and now allows the determination of the specific version of the gene that causes  the trait variant, rather than a number of markers loosely associated with the  trait. This in turn provides insights in the mode of action of the gene variant that  causes the trait of interest.  This type of know-how is being developed and deployed at a fast pace. It is  made possible by super-computer and computational scientists that can analyze  and interpret the staggering amount of data produced in breeding programs by  the combinations of traits. Breeding is quickly becoming an information science,  where the performance of a hybrid variety in a farmer's field may soon be  predicted to a large extent just by looking at its DNA sequence. This new science,  referred to as predictive breeding, increases the selective power of breeding  programs and accelerates seed improvement. Improved commercial cultivar = Molecular markers that distinguish the DNA of a donor parent from the DNA of the commercial cultivar 

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Our industry 2014

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