title: The challenges of commercializing second-generation transgenic crop traits necessitate the development of international public sector research infrastructure.
abstract: It has been 30 years since the first transformation of a gene into a plant species, and since that time a number of biotechnology products have been developed, with the most important being insect- and herbicide-resistant crops. The development of second-generation products, including nutrient use efficiency and tolerance to important environmental stressors such as drought, has, up to this time, been less successful. This is in part due to the inherent complexities of these traits and in part due to limitations in research infrastructure necessary for public sector researchers to test their best ideas. Here we discuss lessons from previous work in the generation of the first-generation traits, as well as work from our labs and others on identifying genes for nitrogen use efficiency. We then describe some of the issues that have impeded rapid progress in this area. Finally, we propose the type of public sector organization that we feel is necessary to make advances in important second-generation traits such as nitrogen use efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada rothstei@uoguelph.ca.
authors.forename: Steven J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Rothstein
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Yong-Mei
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Bi
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
authors.forename: Viktoriya
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coneva
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB T6G 2E9, Canada.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton AB T6G 2E9, Canada.
authors.forename: Allen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Good
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001709:Biotechnology; D001947:Breeding; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology; D055864:Droughts; D053209:Herbicide Resistance; D007313:Insecta / Q000502:physiology; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000469:parasitology; D017150:Public Sector
chemical_list: D009584:Nitrogen
keywords: Drought; first-generation crop traits; nitrogen use efficiency; public sector infrastructure; second-generation crop traits; stress tolerance; yield.