Daily University Science News
Depending
on your point of view, the great promise or peril of modern agriculture
has germinated on millions of acres of North American cropland
as the genetically modified organism -- or GMO -- has taken center
stage.
But as science
begins to accumulate and explore plant and animal genomes -- the
entire set of genetic instructions for a particular organism --
a new revolution is in the offing and, according to University
of Wisconsin-Madison biologist Robert Goodman, promises a long-lasting
and favorable impact on agriculture worldwide.
Addressing
scientists in San Francisco Saturday, Feb. 18, at the annual meeting
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Goodman
forecast a world of change as scientists use the maps of the genomes
of key plants and animals, giving them unprecedented access to
the genetic instructions that govern life. The new knowledge,
he says, could significantly enhance the traditional and far less
controversial practices of crop and livestock improvement through
breeding.
"From
a scientific perspective, the public argument about genetically-modified
organisms, I think, will soon be a thing of the past," Goodman
says. "The science has moved on and we're now in the genomics
era."
Instead of
slipping one or two genes in or out of an organism to confer or
promote a desirable trait in a plant or animal, as is the case
in GMO technology, the advent of genomics portends an even more
powerful tool as scientists can now rapidly comb the thousands
of genes in a genome to see which genes are at work.
"The
key is you can detect function." says Goodman. "You
can see genes at work and you can focus on lots of genes all at
once. This is what breeders have done for more than a century,
but with new knowledge and modern tools of the trade, breeders
can make more rapid progress on many more traits than in the past."
The potential
of genomics to do good, especially in developing countries, is
enormous, Goodman argues. And he expresses hope that the polarizing
issues and mistakes that have dogged GMO technology can be avoided.
"Genomics
adds centrally and substantially to the toolbox of the plant breeder,"
says Goodman, a UW-Madison professor of plant pathology and a
former executive vice president for research and development at
Calgene, a pioneering crop biotechnology company.
Critically,
the technology can be a path to world food security and aid in
the development of industries and institutions in countries that
will permit them to cope with rapidly growing populations and
dwindling resources, Goodman says.
"Researchers
in public institutions in developing countries need this technology,"
he argues, "and, more to the point, they themselves can use
it -- if arrangements are put in place to make useful genomic
sequences and technologies generally available."
Goodman serves
as an advisor to the McKnight Foundation, an organization that
promotes scientific advancement for crop improvement in many of
the world's less developed countries.
He cited the
fact that the rice genome, now completely mapped, has the potential
to spark significant increases in production and begin to eliminate
some of the human health and environmental problems associated
with industrial agriculture. For example, by building resistance
to insect pests into crops, scientists may help curb cavalier
use of chemical pesticides that now take a huge environmental
and human health toll in the developing world.
The power
of genomics, explains Goodman, lies in the fact that nature has
been parsimonious in its use of genes. For example, rice, a member
of the grass family, has a genome with few fundamental genetic
differences from other grasses such as corn, wheat, and tef, a
grain on which millions of people in Africa depend. The genome
for A. rabidopsis, a common laboratory workhorse for plant scientists,
is now in hand and provides a framework for using genomics in
many crops such as legumes, vegetables and fruits.
The ability
now to employ genomic technology to comb these genetic instructions
and focus on new combinations of genes based on their functions
and interactions means that the pace of development of new plant
cultivars, many of them not engineered in the way GMOs are created,
may accelerate dramatically.
Goodman says
it is essential to get the technology into the hands of scientists
in developing nations because they will have the best opportunities
to tailor the technology to local agricultural conditions, crops,
crop improvement priorities and traditions.
Although an
advocate of employing genomic technology, Goodman parts company
with many in industry by advocating labeling of engineered products
and greater public dialogue and education. There is also great
danger, he warns, in a potential concentration of power by having
the technology held by just a few transnational companies.
"The
controversy is as much about the economics of the system as it
is about the technology or its safety," he says. "The
industrialized model of agriculture that we depend on won't work
very well in the world at large where nearly half of the population
is engaged in food production. We need new models, but we can't
shut the door on a technology that has tremendous potential to
improve the lives of so many."
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