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Plants for the future

OECD, Challenges for Agricultural Research, April 2009

Institute of Plant Biotechnology

For Developing Countries


OECD, Prague, April, 2009

Prof. Em. Marc Van Montagu

Chairman, IPBO

Websites: http://www.ipbo.ugent.behttp://www.psb.ugent.behttp://www.efb-central.orghttp://www.pubresreg.org

E-mail : [email protected]

http://www.ipbo.ugent.be/

http://www.psb.ugent.be/

http://www.efb-central.org/



http://www.pubresreg.org/

mailto:[email protected]



Ten thousand years of

genetically modified plants

• Selection

• Crossing

• Genomic Fusion

• Mutagenesis

• Cloning



THE GREEN REVOLUTION

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• The Green Revolution demonstrated the power of Plant Breeding

• Tripling World Population created the need for intensive agriculture

• The extensive use of irrigation, soil fertilization and chemical pest control brought many sustainability problems

Green Revolution: promises and

Constraints

Soy field with Brazil Nut tree, Amazon



Intensive Agriculture Under Pressure

• Agronomic techniques, drip irrigation, less polluting agrochemicals were a partial answer

• Intensive breeding and high quality seed companies brought also important yield increase

• But it remained difficult to limit the need for even more arable acreage

• The use of plants for industrial production (rubber, oil palm ) brought a major destruction of tropical forestOil palm plantation, Malaysia



Impact of the green revolution in

Asia

Irrigation Fertilizer Tractors

Million Ha consumption millions

million tonnes

1961 87 2 0.2

1970 106 10 0.5

1980 129 29 2.0

1990 158 54 3.4

1998 176 70 4.6

Source: Norman Borlaug. (2002) The green revolution revisited

and the road ahead



Food SecurityHuman Footprint

Human Population

1900……………1.0 Billion

1945……….….. 2.0 Billion

2000……….…...6.0 Billion

2010……… …...6.8 Billion

2025……… …...8.0 Billion



Lessons from Molecular Evolution

• The living world is one large gene-pool of functional and pseudogenes

• This gene-pool is permanently evolving, this is the base of evolution

• Nature is one big genetic laboratory

• It is very misleading to talk about human gene, pig gene, rat gene etc.



Biotech crop history

1904, Agrobacterium

tumefaciens1974, Ti

Plasmid, Gent

1990’s

genomics

1996

Commercial

launch

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DellaPenna & Last

Science (2008 )



Challenges for agricultureTackle food security issues &

environmental constraints on

productivity.

Reduce the environmental

footprint of industry &

Agriculture

Plants for fuels and .

the chemical industry.

Biotechnology as a coherent

answer to these challenges.



Environmental challenges of intensive

agriculture: the example of corn-ethanol

7,900 square

mile dead zone

9 billion litres

of ethanol in 2007

210 million lbs

N - fertilizer

Source: NASA, Reuters, US-EPA

93 million acres of

corn in 2007

Mississippi

catchment area



Environmental degradation is a global

problem

Source: Diaz & Rosenberg (2008), Science; 321: 926-929



The future – benefits for consumers

Plants as Factories Vitamins long-chained

fatty Acids Omega-3-fatty Acids Enzymes Biopolymers Color Pigments Pharmaceuticals Fibers

Stress Protection Cold Drought Salinity

Healthier Nutrition and Quality Amino Acids Oil Starch

Pest Protection Virus Nematode Fungi Insect

1997 2015 20252005

More efficient Agriculture Bt-technology Herbicide

resistance



The search for yield improvement



Necessities: Invest in non-food crop

improvement – gene silencing approaches

Jatropha curcas Ricinus communis



Explore the potential of non-food

crops

Miscanthus Sweet sorghum Castor bean



Agriculture

Fibres

Organic Acids

Polyols

Polyurethanes Polyester Nylon

Polymers

Monomers

Biorefining

Feed

Additives

BioFuels

Green Solvents

(ethyl lactate)

Specialty

Chemicals

High

Performance

Materials

Pharmaceutical

Precursors

Amino

Acids

Lignin

Ethanol

Source: Bio 2005

The Biorefinery platform using agricultural

feedstocks



The emerging bio-economy is built on

green and white biotechnology

Green biotechnology White biotechnology



1930

Plants

30%

Coal

60%

Petroleum

10%

1960

Plants

1%Coal

20%

Petroleum

79%

Plant-based feedstocks in industry are

not new

Source: UNIDO



….but production capacity of bio-chemicals

is still rather low



Other applications are emerging

1930’s: soy-based car components (Ford)

21st Century: kenaf-based car components

21st Century: soy-based car components (Ford-Dupont)

http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/biobased.materials/dcx.e.class.500.jpg

http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/biobased.materials/henry.ford.500.jpg

http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/advice/specialreports/biobased.materials/ford.model.U.concept.500.jpg



Short rotation plantations for fuel and fibre

• Wood producing plants e.g. poplar

• CO2 captation in cell walls



- arid land regeneration

- Asian longhorn beetle resistance

Insect resistant poplars in China



Mountain pine beetle – could Bt be the

cure for this environmental disaster?

270 mega tonnes of carbon emission by 2020

British Columbia 2008



Metabolic engineering

Rischer et al., PNAS (2006)

• Catharanthus roseus produces

vinblastine & vinchristine

• Use: Hodgkin's disease, acute

leukemia, breast cancer

• Content in plants: In leaves ~

0.0003 % (500 kg plant material is

needed to obtain 1 g vincristine)

• Price: ~13 000 € / g



The GM Controversy

Will Europe be

• importer only?

• active producer of

GM crops?

Neolithic farming in Europe



Major public concerns

Safety Issues

• Human and Animal Health

No adverse effect reported with the

approved GM-crops (WHO, EFSA, JRC)

• Environmental

Already a long list of beneficial effects

No alarming scenario was confirmed

Long term ecological effects can be lower

than those of traditional agriculture



Price Tag for Introducing GM

Plants

Overregulation and unnecessary testing

make that

• no Small Medium Enterprise

• no Third World country

can afford to introduce a GM crop.

Only multinationals can proceed.



Agrochemical companies do not

control the food chain – contrary to

popular belief

40 409 1,091

Agricultural input

industryFood processors

& traders

Food retailers

Sales of top 10 companies (in billions of USD) 2006Source Von Braun, IFPRI, The World food situation 2007



Oxford University Press

ISBN 0-19-280485-5



Harvard University Press

ISBN-10: 0674029739

ISBN-13: 978-0674029736



Actions

• Improve science education and awarenessof the importance of science in decisionmaking.

• But move from “educating the public” toengaging with the public.

• Discuss new products with consumerorganisations.

• Explain the consequences of not using GMplants.



Enable knowledge Infrastructure:

• Promote science education;

• Invest in global R&D systems;

• Harmonise intellectual property regimes;

• Harmonise regulatory regimes;

• Promote technology transfer;

• Support innovative firms and entrepreneurs;

• Encourage financial systems that promote investment in high risk ventures;

• Ensure international collaboration for sharing of resources and best practice;

• Harmonise international market and trade structures

Policy framework priorities



21st Century Plants will be GM-Plants



In a better Environment

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