CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP ORGANISER S REPORT

Transcription

1 CONFERENCE/WORKSHOP ORGANISER S REPORT 12 th International Wheat Genetic Symposium; OECD-CRP Sponsored Sessions on Wheat Research for Sustainable Food Chain, adaptation and mitigation to the Climate change and Global Food Security Brief Description of what the conference/workshop was about The 12 th International Wheat Genetics Symposium (IWGS) was a regularly scheduled conference for wheat genetics and breeding science which had been conducted every five years since 1958 with around 400 participants across the world including OECD countries. International researchers exchanged information with their latest research for wheat genetics, genomics, gene function, evolution, genetic resources and breeding for sustainable wheat production. Research outcomes and sustain links of researchers based on genome sequence information and transgenic plants was discussed. In the specially arranged OECD-CRP session, each distinguished scientists in the relevant field will present their latest scientific progress with Sustainable Food Chain Challenging for Adaptation and Mitigation to the Climate Change and Global Food Security. Then, voices of actual demands and requirement from wheat growers, industry and relevant sectors to wheat genetic society/ academy were addressed as the plenary talks. Status and movement of the two international wheat science initiatives (IWC and WI) were introduces and discussed future interaction and compilation to encourage the wheat science society in the era of wheat genomics/postgenomics. Enhancing Relevance and Efficiency of Wheat Science for the Society was concluded and recapitulated to match the scientific approach and socio-economical relevance/ efficiency to draft an action plan of propaganda by the International wheat science society. Participation details of total number of participants, countries they came from, backgrounds (academia, industry, etc.) Total number of participants: 411 (regular 343, student 58, accompanying 10) Total numbers of countries they came from: 36 (Top 6 countries: Japan 115, China 57, Australia 33, USA 28, French/ Israel 16) Major highlights from the presentations It is an first attempt the OECD-CRP sponsored session in the IWGS to wrap up outcomes from the ordinary sessions by distinguished scientist and discuss about enhancing relevance and efficiency of further wheat science from genetics/genomics to breeding for our the IWGS society. It should issue the topics on wheat research for sustainable food chain challenging for adaptation and mitigation to the climate change and global food security related to Theme III Food Chain. Major highlights were as follows; Wheat Research for Sustainable Food Chain for Climate Change and Global Food Security Each distinguished scientist in respective field presented their latest scientific progress with their perspectives of relevant wheat research and development. 1

2 1) Matthew P Reynolds (CIMMYT, Mexico), Exploring genetic resources to increase adaptation of wheat to climate change Seamless flow: Crop design to breeding Whole plant (roots, spike etc.) Genetic resources represent a vast and largely untapped opportunity Innovative phenotyping (roots, air etc.) for targeted environments is key to effective use of genetic resources Transgenes looking promising but need to be evaluated in elite backgrounds Strategic trait-based use of well characterized genetic resources achieves cumulative gene actions for yield potential (strategic, analytical crop improvement) 2) Beat Keller (Univ. of Zurich, Switzerland), Genomic approaches towards durable fungal disease resistance in wheat Durable resistance (host-pathogen dynamic interactions) Characterization of the molecular basis of resistance gene function and specificity > develop a more durable type resistance based on major genes Gene cloning and transgene research approach Successful field trial (field tolerance) 3) Z. Li, presented by Xueyong Zhang (CAAS, China), New progress in wheat wide hybridization for improving the resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses Great Chinese history of wheat breeding, responding to changing needs such as yield, quality, salt tolerance, drought tolerance, Ug99 (Xiaoyan 6 to 81, Hexaploids) Wisdom from the past experience for the future (addressing climate change; biotic and abiotic stresses) i. Wide adaptation by a wide genetic background (including alien spp. introgression) ii. Extensive nurseries/trials in multi-environments 4) Michael Baum (ICARDA, Jordan), Global crop improvement networks to bridge technology gaps The International Wheat Improvement Network (IWIN) results in the germplasm development and human resources development It has sustained increase of wheat production & productivity > food security and farmer s livelihood Current contribution of IWIN > breeding, genetic gain & future role under difficult circumstances i. New locations/shuttle breeding ii. FIGS (for stem rust, septoria etc.) iii. Major progress for Ug99 in the region, etc. 5) Mark Sorrells (Cornell Univ., USA), Genomic selection in plants: Empirical results and implications for wheat breeding 2

3 GS differs from MAS and Association Breeding in that the underlying genetic control and biological function is not necessarily known; complementing other breeding methods GS preserves the creative nature of phenotypic selection to sometimes arrive at solutions outside the engineer s scope Integrating environmental covariates and crop modeling into the genomic selection framework to predict G*E increases prediction accuracy and provides insight into the genetic architecture controlling G*E Most important advantages are reductions in the length of the selection cycle resulting in greater genetic gain per year 6) Rowan Mitchell (Rothamsted Research, UK), Wheat genes or enhanced human nutrition Dietary fibre (DF) in wheat flour is derived from cell wall of the starch endosperm > composed (~70%) of the polysaccharide arabinoxylan (AX) which is abundant in grasses such a wheat Candidate genes were identified > Glycosyl transferase (GT43, 47, 61) for AX synthesis QTLs for high DF from Yumai34 identified Molecular understanding of the AX synthesis (including transgene research) will help to identify the casual alleles of the QTLs > accelerate to introduce high fibre alleles into modern commercial cvs. Enhancing Relevance and Efficiency of Wheat Science for the Society What does wheat flour industry from wheat science? The Evolution of Grain Quality from the Miller s Perspective Researchers voice on supporting public research from the private sectors? What does industry seed sector expect from wheat science? Government-Research-Industry-Growers-International linkages Improving wheat for world food security: Concerted approach of IWGS and International Wheat Conference (IWC) Major importance and many challenges (still underinvested!!) Status of the two international wheat science initiatives (IWGS, IWC) Showing the opportunity for further international collaboration (WI) including Working Groups! These major highlights distilled common threads and develop a coherent story and added to the climax of the 12 th IWGS. Major outcomes/conclusions in terms of policy relevance The 12 th IWGS concluded Perspectives of Wheat Genetics/Breeding that in-depth disciplinary research should combine with inter-disciplinary approach and international collaboration for social impact. Research outputs which support and grow market position = reliability of supply will be provided by the policy makers who catch the voice and act on Government-Research- Industry-Growers-International linkages. The participants wanted to pass their action as follows; Role of OECD 3

4 Policy advice to the member governments Promote members collaboration Sponsor for IWGS! (yes Money!) Policy support for wheat research G20 leadership (e.g. Meeting of Chief Agriculture Scientists) pays a special attention to wheat research (e.g. WI) Wheat research needs better funding! Relevance to CRP theme(s) Overall outcomes from the 12 th IWGS included new approaches for production of valuable and safe materials and substances within sustainable production of wheat as a staple food for the world. International researchers exchanged information with their latest research for wheat genetics, genomics, gene function, evolution, genetic resources and breeding for sustainable wheat production. Research outcomes and sustain links of researchers based on genome sequence information and transgenic plants was discussed. The 12 th IWGS had ordinary 10 scientific sessions, 1) Germplasm and Genetic Diversity, 2) Cytogenetics and Evolution, 3) Toward the Whole Genome Sequence, 4) Structural and Functional Genomics, 5) Satellite Workshop (Brachypodium research/ Genomic assessment of the global wheat germplasms/ Application of Genetics and Genomics Studies on Wheat Disease Resistance), 6) Gene Function and Molecular Biology, 7) Biotic Stress, 8) Abiotic Stress, 9) Grain Quality and 10) Clasic and Molecular Breeding. The areas in CRP Themes were included in the sessions relevance to following topics; Impact of transgenic plants cloning Molecular breeding approach resulting plant products New plant protection strategies for sustainable wheat production Monitoring genetic modifications, pathogens, allergens in the food chain. Genomic research relevant to wheat breeding and production Micro-array technology relevant to wheat genetics and breeding Emerging diseases and resistance to conventional treatment (new pathogens and strains) such as challenging to the wheat stem rust disease, out-breaking race UG99 New technologies for detection, diagnosis and treatment of old pathogens to wheat New tools for preventing outbreaks of old and new pathogens to wheat. And the OECD-CRP supported session had representative presentations for all the fields and cover the summarized topics. In the specially arranged OECD-CRP session, each distinguished scientists in the relevant field will present their latest scientific progress with Sustainable Food Chain Challenging for Adaptation and Mitigation to the Climate Change and Global Food Security. Then, voices of actual demands and requirement from wheat growers, industry and relevant sectors to wheat genetic society/ academy were addressed as the plenary talks. Status and movement of the two international wheat science initiatives (IWC and WI) were introduces and discussed future interaction and compilation to encourage the wheat science society in the 4

5 era of wheat genomics/post-genomics. Enhancing Relevance and Efficiency of Wheat Science for the Society was concluded and recapitulated to match the scientific approach and socioeconomical relevance/ efficiency to draft an action plan of propaganda by the International wheat science society. The OECD-CRP supported session fitted to the description of the CRP Research Theme III Food Chain. Website for further details please also indicate if the presentations are/will be available on the website 5