marker-assisted selection in wheat - ictsd

Chapter 18 – Marker-assisted selection in crop and livestock improvement 369for objective priority-setting, developmentof partnerships, complementarities andcapacity building for compatible humanresource formation.MAS as Part of a ComplexProcess – Setting Priorities andTaking ActionBefore discussion of MAS as a technologicalalternative to increase the capacity of breedingprogrammes it is important to discuss andconsider the future of the breeding processitself. Until recently, selection was based onobservable phenotypes, without knowledgeof the genetic architecture of the selectedcharacteristics (Dekkers and Hospital,2002). However, advances in molecularmarker techniques and rapid advances inlarge-scale sequencing are creating newperspectives for exploiting the immensereservoir of polymorphism in genomes.Molecular genetic analysis of traits in plantand animal populations is leading to a betterunderstanding of quantitative trait genetics.More recently, the discovery and scoring ofsingle nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)using automated and high-throughputinstrumentation are already providing theincreased resolution needed to analyse setsof genes involved in complex quantitativetraits (Altshuler et al., 2000; De La Vega etal., 2002; Rafalsky, 2002, Lörz and Wenzel,2005; Ferreira, 2006).What impacts will all these developmentshave on breeding programmes? Asanticipated by Stuber, Polacco and Senior,in 1999, “when genomics is added to futurestrategies for plant and animal breeders,the projected outcomes are mind-boggling.There is every reason to believe that thesynergy of empirical breeding, MAS andgenomics will truly produce a greater effectthan the sum of the various individualactions.” Despite the positive view of manywho find technological development anopen venue for enhancement or completeredesign of traditional breeding, there aremany uncertainties about its future. The riseof genetic engineering and the bio-industry,and the widespread granting of intellectualproperty rights, followed by profoundchanges in the relationship between publicand private science make it very difficultto anticipate future developments in bothpublicly funded breeding research and thecommercial biotechnology industry.Unfortunately, very little effort has beendirected to thinking about the future ofbreeding, especially in developing countries(Castro et al., 2002, 2006). Many past andcurrent events are changing the performance,the relationships and the space that publicand private research organizations have inthe market, raising the need for a deeperunderstanding of their unfolding impacts onthe public activity of research (Price, 1999;Graff et al., 2003). The current scenario ofchanges and uncertainties has generatedthe necessity for strategic re-alignment ofpublic research in many parts of the world.Therefore, research organizations needinformation that is not currently availableabout such changes and influences andtheir impact on the future of key activities,such as crop and livestock breeding. Toobtain and to organize this information,prospective studies need to be developedon the present and future performanceof breeding programmes and their relatedproduction systems.The future configuration of breedingprogrammes depends on knowledgeto guide strategic decisions about structures,methods and capacities in order totake advantage of new opportunities andtechnological niches. Foresight methodologieshave been applied to this end,using systemic analysis of the past and