marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

138Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishCollaboration between theprivate and public sectors in MASand maize improvementThe increased investments in maizebreeding, expected returns on investmentand concerns regarding intellectual propertyby the private sector have made it moredifficult for corporations to collaboratewith external parties of any kind. Suchfactors hinder the exchange of informationand material that is common in collaborativeprojects. Nevertheless, around the world,the private and public sectors still manageto collaborate through various mechanismsand at different levels in the pursuit ofmaize improvement. Such collaborationinvolves interactions among multinationalcorporations, philanthropic foundations,national and subnational governments,universities and individuals. Majorcategories of collaboration include socialprogrammes and institutions, research anddevelopment, and education.In many regions of the world, privatesector maize breeding would not have grownwithout some critical social programmesand institutions. For example, legislationrelated to intellectual property, transferof capital and material, and regulatoryapproval of biotechnical innovations inmaize improvement have been importantcomponents of legal systems that haveencouraged financial investment in maizebreeding. The stability of these systemsand the rule of law have contributed tothe long-term gains in selection. Also,long-term crop subsidy programmes insome regions have provided an element ofsecurity for investments in maize researchand development by the private sector(Troyer, 2004; Crosbie et al., 2006). In thosesame regions, MAS has been deployedinitially and on the largest scale for maizebreeding.With respect to research and development,there is a long history of effectivecollaboration between the public and privatesectors in maize breeding. While suchinteraction continues in the era of MAS,the nature of the collaboration has changedwith the growth and development of thebreeding programmes in the private sector.Initially, collaboration was absolutelyvital for the private sector because breedingprogrammes in the public sector wereimportant, or the sole, sources of the inbredlines used directly by the private sector toproduce commercial hybrids or to sourcepopulations from which elite inbreds werederived. Also, the inbred lines from thepublic sector were usually provided on anunrestricted basis and without paymentsof royalties or licensing fees. Public breedingprogrammes continue to develop eliteinbred lines, occasionally in collaborationwith the private sector (e.g. the GermplasmEnhancement of Maize programme in theUnited States; Pollak, 2003). However, thedirect impact of contemporary public germplasmvaries greatly among regions andgradually, in many regions of the world,the private sector has become the primarysource of elite maize inbred lines and commercialhybrids.In addition to germplasm, most or allof the critical concepts, methods and basictechnologies have their origins in the publicsector (Niebur et al., 2004; Troyer, 2004;Crosbie et al., 2006). The private sector,with its unique ability to concentrate capitalthrough various mechanisms (e.g. profitsfrom products or licence fees, venture capitaland financial markets), is in the bestposition to allocate resources quickly toassess, modify and apply new developmentsin MAS and ancillary areas of maizeimprovement across large geographicaland political regions of a market zone. As