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Exploitation of natural plant biodiversity for the pesticide-free production of food

Objetivo

The aim of this project is to force a break-through in breeding for resistance to fungal pathogens using genomicsand post-genomics tools to exploit natural host plant resistance. Two strategies will be followed to design newresistant varieties: i) marker-a ssisted breeding and ii) genetic engineering. In the shade of the discussions onGMOs, marker-assisted breeding has gone through a silent revolution and has become a realistic option fordeveloping new varieties with multiple resistances. Selecting plants at the seedling stage using molecularmarkers shortens the time considerably between the first cross involving wild species and introduction on themarket, for some crops even with 50%. It has been estimated that less than 0.1 % of the biodiversity inresistanc e is being used in commercial varieties. A major goal of this project is to exploit these genetic resourcesfor breeding resistant varieties, either made with or without genetic engineering. The relative importance of GMtechniques for the SMEs to develop ne w varieties for the regular market in this project is difficult to predict. The fact that the GM approaches used in this IP will only use natural resistance genes, which have been used formore than 50 years in traditional plant breeding, may have a positiv e effect on the attitude of the Europeanconsumers. Regardless the public opinion towards GM crops, marker-assisted breeding will have a high priorityin this project, because it is compatible with organic farming. Moreover, it is expected that, due to thede velopment of high through-put technologies, in various situations marker-assisted breeding will be moreefficient than GM techniques, even without considering the time consuming and costly procedures to introduceGM varieties on the European market. This Int egrated Project will focus on wheat and potato - the two mostimportant staple crops for all consumers in the EU - for which pesticides, mainly fungicides, #

Ámbito científico

Palabras clave

Programa(s)

Tema(s)

Convocatoria de propuestas

FP6-2003-FOOD-2-A
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Régimen de financiación

NoE - Network of Excellence

Coordinador

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Aportación de la UE
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Dirección
Costerweg 50
9101 WAGENINGEN
Países Bajos

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Coste total
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Última actualización: 10 Agosto 2012

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Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/513959/es

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