Understanding and avoiding transgene silencing in sugarcane

甘蔗是世界上主要的粮食(糖)和燃料(乙醇、热电联产)作物之一。它是代谢工程中最具吸引力的目标作物之一，旨在开发可再生生物材料和生物燃料。澳大利亚大力投资，在包括甘蔗在内的我国主要出口作物的基因技术方面取得科学领先地位。田间试验表明，开发方法以避免导入基因的不稳定表达或“沉默”，现在是实际应用的关键要求。目前的项目源于业界对理解和避免转基因沉默的必要性的认识。利用甘蔗开发的方法有望在农业中迅速适用，获得更广泛的好处。

Sugarcane is one of the world's major crops for food (sugar) and fuel (ethanol, electricity co-generation). It is one of the most appealing target crops for metabolic engineering aimed at renewable biomaterials and biofuels. Australia has invested strongly to achieve scientific leadership in gene technologies in our major export crops including sugarcane. Field tests show that development of methods to avoid unstable expression or 'silencing' of introduced genes is now a critical requirement for practical application. The current project emerges from industry recognition of the need to understand and avoid transgene silencing. The methods developed using sugarcane are expected to have rapid applicability for wider benefits in agriculture.