Newsletter October 00
These newsletters are distributed to a mainly domestic mailing list of individuals who expressed an interest in the subjects treated by Dag Lindgren. Besides information, they are also a forum for (in practice mainly Dag Ls, but others are welcome) more or less undigested thoughts and contributions to the general discussion. An URL address to this Newsletter is:
http://daglindgren.upsc.se/Papers/Newsletters/Newsletter00to01/Newsletter_Okt00.htm
it may appear nicer formatted there.
Some instructive programs for teaching breeding is available at:
http://www-personal.une.edu.au/~jvanderw/software.htm
A new textbook in animal breeding, which I think has some relevance for forest tree improvement, is
Animal Breeding:
A list of conferences and courses relevant to tree breeders can be found at
http://dendrome.ucdavis.edu/Meetings/index.html
A new book (or manual) on seedling seed orchards is published by Institute of Forest Genetics
and Tree Breeding, PB 1061, Coimbatore 641 002, India. Price 40$. It contains some information of interest (even for clonal seed orchards).
Course in tree breeding
I arrange a course in tree breeding for undergraduates Oct 30 - Dec 1 at Umeå. It is full time and will be taught in English. Suitable for those whose background in tree breeding is weak and who wants to use rather long time to learn more. Contact me if interested.
Transgenic trees?
The question to what extent transgenic trees (=GMO, Gene Modified Organisms) exist appears frequently
Regulations exists and it is legally possible to plant transgenic trees with permit from Skogsstyrelsen
Recent information from Lennart Ackzell and Carina Strömberg at Skogstyrelsen:
There exists no (legal) plantation with transgenic (GMO) trees in Sweden (not even for research purposes) and no-one has applied to establish such a plantation (for the last five years).
A GMO plantation (tree - fish hybrids) existed earlier at Sävar, but was removed 1999.
Thus the amount of experimentation with transgenic trees in Sweden planted outdoors has decreased from 1 to 0 over the last half a decade.
I had a contact with Sharon Friedman, who works on a special project on agriculture biotechnology regulation at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. It is easy to find out what use is in the US, as the permit information is available on the web, and in the US, there are only field trials ("confined" so that the trees do not flower). US has a two stage process, one for field trials and one for commercial use; "as yet," there has not been an application for deregulation to "APHIS" (which would be required prior to commercial use). Most countries know what's happening, and it is mostly field testing. There are individuals, who know what is being planted, it is fairly public. IF countries are commercialising they are however not talking much about it. My personal conclusion is that there exist no success stories - and maybe not even any stories at all - with commercial use of transgenic trees in the whole world. And I think it is a little surprising that the commercialisation is so unsuccessful even in the US, which was so successful in commercialisation of agricultural GMOs.
I ask myself: How can so many believe such trees will be a big practical issue within the foreseeable future?
Perhaps because there are 40 million ha of transgenic agricultural plants. This is a very strong contrast to the absence of any evident plantation on the forestry side. However 75% of these are for herbicide resistance, and this does not appeal to many foresters. I had contact with plant breeding long before GMOs, but I do not recall hearing about herbicide resistance as a breeding goal at that time (and I think I have never heard it phrased as a goal for forest tree breeding). Thus it seems in some way that it is the technique, which had generated the need, rather than a true client generated need. On changing the product quality in agriculture crops GMO has not (yet) been commercially successful.
The electronic FAO debate on possible use of biotech in developing countries I informed about earlier is still going on, but the forestry session is finished. Transgenics were not the only focus, still it seems that issue got most attention.
Those who want to see the contributions to this debate can still do so at the web. (FAO Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture website:
http://www.fao.org/biotech/forum.htm )
Home page
There is a forest genetic student in Australia who made a home page with some links and information I found of interest. Here is the id.
http://www.uq.net.au/~zzajosep
Committee meetings
Förädlingsrådet sammanträder i Uppsala 19 oktober (inf Per Ståhl)
Centrala frö- och plantrådets planerade höstsammanträde i Jönköping har ställts in (inf Carina Strömberg).
Nordic plant breeders course in Latvia
The 27th Nordic/Baltic Post-graduate course in Plant Breeding
Jurmala, Latvia, February 2001
PhD students, professional plant breeders and academic staff within plant breeding or related subjects are encouraged to participate in the 27th Nordic/Baltic Post-graduate course in Plant Breeding.
Course title: RESISTANCE BREEDING
Date: February 5-10, 2001
Place: Hotel "Zinatnes Nams", Jurmala, Latvia
Organiser: Prof. Isaak Rashal E-mail: izaks@email.lubi.edu.lv
The theme of the course
Resistance breeding is one of the most important fields in contemporary plant breeding. Susceptibility of plants to diseases and pests lead to dramatic losses of both quantity and quality of yield. In many cases resistance of varieties breaks down because of evolution of the pathogens. Modern methods in genetics and biotechnology give breeders new possibilities to effectively improve plant resistance.
Active participants
A maximum of 28 active PhD students, including 3 from each of the Baltic States, will be accepted to the course. PhD students in Plant Breeding and related areas are encouraged to apply. Active students are expected to give a 30 min lecture in English during the course and submit 2-3 page abstract on topic allocated by the course organisers. By selecting the topic organisers will take into consideration the student’s interests and balanced coverage of the entire course programme.
Active participants will be credited according to local university regulations. An official diploma will be issued to all active participants of the course.
Passive participants
Practical plant breeding, university plant breeding research and related areas have traditionally enriched the course by participating in the scientific discussions. This has allowed an active exchange of ideas and experiences between teachers, students, researchers and plant breeders.
Programme
General aspects of plant resistance
Types of resistance: basic, specific, durable, partial etc.
Evolution of the system plant-pathogen
Gene for gene relationships
Biochemical and anatomical mechanisms of plant resistance
Induced resistance
Defence reactions of plants
Mlo resistance
Genetic and genomic aspects of breeding for resistance
Wide hybridisation and gene introgression
Molecular genetics of adaptation
Molecular breeding
Genetic resources
Genetic diversity – measurement and conservation
Patterns of genetic variation
Pre-breeding
Ecogeographical breeding
Compendium
The course organisers will prepare 200-300 pages compendium of selected scientific papers covering all areas within the programme. The compendium will be sent to participants in good time before the course starts. For preparation of lectures the active participants are expected to search and read additional literature for complete coverage of the topic given.
Location
The course will be held in Jurmala, 25 km from Riga, the capital of Latvia. Jurmala is a nice resort town on the coast of the Riga Gulf. The Hotel "Zinatnes Nams" (House of Sciences) belongs to the Latvian Academy of Sciences and situated in picturesque spot between the river Lielupe and the Gulf. Most of the participants will be housed in double rooms. There is a good communication with Riga by electric train (25 min) and with the Riga airport by the highway Riga –Jurmala (15 min).
Cost and coverage
Accommodation is fully covered for active students and teachers. A bus service will be provided between the Riga airport and the Hotel. All students, excepted active from the Baltic States, have to finance the travel to Riga through their own universities/institutes. Passive participants must pay additionally a registration fee of DKK 2600 to cover food and lodging in single rooms, transport, course literature and extra administration.
For registration forms (if you did not get it electronically yourself) contact me, or Isaak Rachal or Arnulf Merker, SLU-Alnarp (arnulf.merker@vv.slu.se)
MINI-SYMPOSIUM ON FOREST GENETICS
, NOVEMBER 22,2000.