ISHS Acta Horticulturae 546: International Symposium on Molecular Markers for Characterizing Genotypes and Identifying Cultivars in Horticulture
POSSIBLE FUTURE ROLES FOR MOLECULAR TECHNIQUES IN THE IDENTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF NEW PLANT CULTIVARS |
| Author: | M.S. Camlin |
| Keywords: | plant breeders’ rights, varieties, distinctness, essential derivation |
| Abstract:
Rapid advances are taking place in genetic studies across the plant sciences and biochemical and molecular methods are now available for the identification and description of plant genotypes and cultivars in a number of crops. However, the identification of natural genotypes or of existing cultivars which are already registered and protected is rather different from thede novo registration and granting of Plant Breeders' Rights to a new cultivar and there are important issues to be considered. At present, the basis for most technical examinations for the grant of a breeder’s right usually involves a growing test to determine the morphology of the component plants of a new candidate cultivar, in comparison with appropriate reference cultivars to establish its distinctness and uniformity and stability (DUS). Increasingly, for some crops, in circumstances where there have been problems in determining distinctness using routine morphological characteristics, the use of biochemical characteristics, examined by electrophoresis, has become accepted by UPOV (The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) to provide supporting evidence of distinctness, provided the normal uniformity standards are met and there is a good understanding of the genetics involved. As yet the potential for molecular techniques has not been fully explored and their use is still under discussion at a technical level within UPOV. Therefore, they have not yet been accepted for determination of the distinctness of new cultivars, although, especially in the consideration of essential derivation, it is recognised that they are likely to have an important future role in the determination of genetic distance. The views expressed in this paper are personal opinions and do not represent a policy statement on behalf of either the UK Testing Authorities or UPOV. | |
Download Adobe Acrobat Reader (free software to read PDF files) | |
