Australia
April, 2007
Source:
Grains Research and Development
Corporation (GRDC)
Original document:
http://www.grdc.com.au/growers/res_summ/awcpa.pdf
Summary
A new industry forum – the
Australian Winter Cereals Pre-Breeding Alliance (AWCPA) – has
been established to promote collaboration and cooperation among
cereal pre-breeders.
The Alliance’s objective is to
maximise the national pre-breeding effort and shorten the time
frame between genetic enhancement and the development of new,
improved crop varieties.
The Alliance was established by a
steering committee representing major pre-breeding
organisations, including CSIRO,
MPBCRC,
VAWCRC,
SARDI, and
DAFWA.
The committee is seeking support
from all Australian researchers working in this area.
The Committee affirmed the scope
and principles of the Alliance at a meeting on 19th March in
Adelaide.
The Drivers for Change
In an environment where there is a
continuous cost-price squeeze on agricultural production, there
is a need for research funds to be used as effectively as
possible in developing new commercial varieties.
Pre-breeding is an area of
significant public investment, with annual expenditure estimated
at between $70–80 million*. In the past there has been
fragmentation and duplication of research efforts, as well as an
overvaluation of Intellectual Property (IP).
Complex IP arrangements have
inhibited collaboration and access to new technologies, while in
the case of GM, there is a lack of a clear pathway to market.
* Ross W. Fellowes, Report on
Pre-Breeding R&D for Winter Cereals, March 2006
Scope
The scope of pre-breeding R&D
covered by the Alliance includes:
- gene discovery and
functional genomics, including the tools of transcriptomics,
proteomics and metabolomics
- establishment of
marker-trait associations
- linked/diagnostic marker
identification
- marker validation
- any other breeding tools
for selecting relevant gene(s) to develop improved parental
stocks; and
- for GM traits, production
of transformed parents, ready for use in breeding programs.
Key principles
Pre-breeding activities within the
Alliance are framed by principles which:
- Are market driven by
the grains supply and value chains including end-users,
growers and breeders.
- Are focussed on the
traits that will generate maximum benefit for the
Australian grains industry.
- Allow breeding
programs non-exclusive, equitable access to
public-funded pre-breeding research to ensure the
maximum benefit to the Australian grains industry.
- Provide simple IP
protection and management arrangements that encourage
rapid uptake of R&D outputs by breeding programs.
- Foster communication,
collaboration and coordination between institutions, to
minimise unnecessary duplication and fragmentation, and
maximise overall progress.
- Encourage
relationships that provide ready access to R&D outputs
developed overseas including R&D outputs from the
private sector.
- Include mechanisms for
recognising and rewarding performance consistent with
Alliance principles.
IP issues
A working group has been set up to
review IP arrangements in the pre-breeding domain. The IP
Working Group has met regularly since September 2006 and has
focussed on developing an IP ‘access and benefit sharing model’
to support the Alliance’s overall objectives, consistent with
Principles 3, 4 and 7.
Rather than ‘reinventing the
wheel’, this Group will draw on existing models developed in
areas related to pre-breeding, including those used by Barley
Breeding Australia and by the Australian Winter Cereals
Molecular Marker Program (AWCMMP). Proposed features include:
- Access and benefit
sharing principles to be set out in a Memorandum of
Understanding.
- By analogy with
the AWCMMP model, IP could be categorised into
different classes, with different treatment for each
class. The AWCMMP has three classes:
- Collaborative
IP,
- AWCMMP
Germplasm, and
- Commercial IP.
- The access
arrangements must be simple, for example, a
standard MTA should be developed and used.
- For
technologies developed by public/industry funds
only, access should be open – recipients of
germplasm and other pre-breeding IP should be
obliged to share their research results with
other participants.
- For
technologies developed using either a mixture of
public/industry and private sector funds or
private sector funds alone, commercial
imperatives need to be accommodated and these
may restrict the degree to which pre-breeding IP
can be shared openly with other participants.
A minimum requirement is that all
activities in the pre-breeding area are disclosed. Side-deals
must be transparent.
Trait prioritisation and
collaboration meetings
During the Alliance’s
establishment, a report on wheat pre-breeding and breeding
objectives was prepared by Ross Fellowes and Don Marshall. The
initial findings were tabled at a meeting in Adelaide in July
2006 and the report was finalised in September 2006. Feedback
from the prebreeding community has been considered together with
feedback on trait and marker priorities from Barley Breeding
Australia, and from the Wheat Breeders' Alliance.
At the Steering Committee meeting
on 19th March in Adelaide, the following traits areas were
identified as the first candidates for a series of discussion
groups:
-
Drought/water-use efficiency
- Frost
- Quality
issues in wheat
Discussion groups will now meet
through 2007 to define a clear strategy for future research in
each area, with short, medium, and long term objectives. These
meetings will be inclusive. The Alliance will publish details
and will invite those with interest and expertise in these areas
to participate.
Jeremy Burdon
AWCPA Chair
17th April 2007
Original document:
http://www.grdc.com.au/growers/res_summ/awcpa.pdf |
