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March, 2007
Source:
CropBiotech Update
Cisgenic plants are bred by
introducing genes from the crop plants themselves or from
crossable species using marker-free transformation techniques.
By adopting this breeding process called ‘cisgenesis’, plant
breeders can produce cultivars that are equivalent to
classically-bred plants, said researchers in the Netherlands.
The researchers, Evert Jacobsen and Henk Schouten, mentioned
that cisgenesis is comparable to the induced translocation
method of improving plants. In induced translocation, the
insertion site of the genes is a priori unknown like in
cisgenesis. Thus, Jacobsen and Schouten recommend that plants
derived through cisgenesis be treated similar to
traditionally-bred plants and exempted from GMO regulations. The
researchers note that they have successfully tested cisgenesis
in breeding disease resistant apple and potato cultivars.
The complete review paper published by the journal
Trends in Biotechnology can be accessed by subscribers at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tibtech.2007.03.008.
Source:
Science Direct
Cisgenesis strongly improves introgression breeding and
induced translocation breeding of plants
Evert Jacobsen(1,3) and Henk J. Schouten(2)
(1) Wageningen University and Research Centre, Laboratory of
Plant Breeding, P.O. Box 386, 6700 AJ Wageningen, The
Netherlands
(2) Plant Research International, P.O. Box 16, 6700 AA
Wageningen, The Netherlands
(3) Transforum Agribusiness & Rural Areas, Louis Pasteurlaan 6,
2700 AB Zoetermeer, The Netherlands
Trends in Biotechnology
doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2007.03.008
ABSTRACT
There are two ways for genetic
improvement in classical plant breeding: crossing and mutation.
Plant varieties can also be improved through genetic
modification; however, the present GMO regulations are based on
risk assessments with the transgenes coming from non-crossable
species. Nowadays, DNA sequence information of crop plants
facilitates the isolation of cisgenes, which are genes from crop
plants themselves or from crossable species. The increasing
number of these isolated genes, and the development of
transformation protocols that do not leave marker genes behind,
provide an opportunity to improve plant breeding while remaining
within the gene pool of the classical breeder. Compared with
induced translocation and introgression breeding, cisgenesis is
an improvement for gene transfer from crossable plants: it is a
one-step gene transfer without linkage drag of other genes,
whereas induced translocation and introgression breeding are
multiple step gene transfer methods with linkage drag. The
similarity of the genes used in cisgenesis compared with
classical breeding is a compelling argument to treat cisgenic
plants as classically bred plants. In the case of the classical
breeding method induced translocation breeding, the insertion
site of the genes is a priori unknown, as it is in cisgenesis.
This provides another argument to treat cisgenic plants as
classically bred plants, by exempting cisgenesis of plants from
the GMO legislations.
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