Novel pre-breeding germplasm for commercial development of sustainable traits in crops

农业需要一种更快的方式来开发具有新特性的作物，以满足不断变化的商业、社会经济和环境需求。50多年来，农业一直依赖于化学品和化肥的密集施用，在这种制度下，产量稳步增长。然而，由于环境原因，农用化学品越来越多地被撤回，产量也趋于稳定。新的病原体种类正在进化，可能对农作物产生破坏性影响，它们可以在短时间内传遍地球仪。学术界和工业界的农业研究人员越来越多地转向遗传改良网络（GIN）进行“预育种”活动，以在这个不断变化的世界中为可持续农业寻找重要的新性状。预育种是利用野生近缘种和其他未改良种质的新性状的必要的第一步。然而，一个主要的挑战是将GIN产生的基础研究转化为商业现实，以在短时间内生产具有改良性状的作物品种。我们的项目开发了一种新的商业战略，以甘蓝型油菜的抗病性为模型，加速将性状应用到作物中。甘蓝型油菜（油菜，OSR）是世界上最重要的温带油料作物，产量接近7000万公吨，是英国仅次于小麦和大麦的第三大作物。疾病是OSR生产的主要限制因素，气候变化和出于环境原因对农用化学品使用的限制加剧了这一问题。自2012年以来，由Pyrenopeziza brassicae引起的光叶斑病（LLS）已成为英国最具破坏性的疾病。2016年，英国LLS的经济损失超过2亿英镑，2012年至2018年期间一直超过8000万英镑。没有已知的LLS抗性（R）基因，病原体已经发展出多种杀真菌剂不敏感性，包括对唑类的耐受性，唑类是英国和欧洲最常用的杀真菌剂。该项目结合了赫特福德大学LLS病理学的专业知识和John Innes中心的OSR基因组技术。我们项目的技术目标是开发对LLS的改良抗性。我们将评估OSR加入有前途的LLS抗性鉴定在早期的研究和基准，他们与目前的推荐名单上的优秀品种。我们将评估筛选是否可以作为育种行业的服务进行，或通过咨询作为培训模块进行转移。我们还将加强在早期研究中发现的新易感基因的IP位置。我们将使用非转基因和转基因方法来修饰基因，以测试这是否会增加对LLS的抗性。这两种方法都为易感基因提供了专利保护的机会。除了技术目标外，我们还将制定一项商业计划，确定一项商业上可行的战略，将可持续农业的重要新性状引入作物。该业务计划将包括加强作物相关研究成果的知识产权地位的战略，以及研究人员通过公私伙伴关系与工业界更有效地合作的战略。虽然我们的研究重点是OSR，但商业计划也适用于其他作物物种的性状

Agriculture needs a much faster way of developing crops with new traits to meet changing commercial, socio-economic and environmental needs. For over 50 years, agriculture has relied on intensive application of chemicals and fertilizers, and yields have grown steadily under this regime. Increasingly, however, agrochemicals are being withdrawn for environmental reasons, and yields are plateauing. New races of pathogens are evolving that can have devastating effects on crops, and they can spread round the globe in a short period of time. Agricultural researchers in academia and industry are increasingly turning to Genetic Improvement Networks (GINs) undertaking 'pre-breeding' activities to find important new traits for sustainable agriculture in this changing world. Pre-breeding is a necessary first step in harnessing novel traits from wild relatives and other unimproved germplasm. However, a major challenge is to translate basic research arising from GINs into commercial reality to produce crop cultivars with improved traits in short timescales. Our project develops a new business strategy to accelerate deployment of traits into crops using disease resistance in Brassica napus as a model.Brassica napus (oilseed rape, OSR) is the most important temperate oilseed crop in the world with a production of close to 70 million metric tonnes and is the third most important crop in the UK after wheat and barley. Diseases are a major limitation for production of OSR, a problem exacerbated by climate change and restrictions on the use of agrochemicals for environmental reasons. Light leaf spot (LLS), caused by Pyrenopeziza brassicae, has become the most damaging disease in the UK since 2012. Economic losses to LLS in the UK reached over £200M in 2016 and have been consistently over £80M between 2012 and 2018. There are no known resistance (R) genes to LLS, and the pathogen has developed multiple fungicide insensitivities including tolerance to azoles, the most commonly-used fungicide class used in the UK and probably Europe. The project combines the expertise in LLS pathology at the University of Hertfordshire with OSR genomic technology at the John Innes Centre. The technical aim of our project is to develop improved resistance to LLS. We will evaluate OSR accessions with promising LLS resistance identified in an earlier study and benchmark them them with elite cultivars on the current Recommended List. We will evaluate whether screening could be performed as a service to the breeding industry or transferred through consultancy as a training module. We will also strengthen the IP position of a novel susceptibility gene identified in an earlier study. We will modify the gene using both a non-GM and GM approaches to test whether this increases resistance to LLS. Both approaches provide the opportunity to provide patent protection for the susceptibility gene. In addition to the technical aims, we will also develop a business plan defining a commercially viable strategy for introduction of important new traits for sustainable agriculture into crops. The business plan will include strategies for strengthening the Intellectual Property position of results from crop-related research and for researchers to work more effectively with industry through public/private partnerships. Whist the focus of our research is on OSR, the business plan will also be applicable to traits from other crop species