title: Are we ready for back-to-nature crop breeding?
abstract: Sustainable agriculture in response to increasing demands for food depends on development of high-yielding crops with high nutritional value that require minimal intervention during growth. To date, the focus has been on changing plants by introducing genes that impart new properties, which the plants and their ancestors never possessed. By contrast, we suggest another potentially beneficial and perhaps less controversial strategy that modern plant biotechnology may adopt. This approach, which broadens earlier approaches to reverse breeding, aims to furnish crops with lost properties that their ancestors once possessed in order to tolerate adverse environmental conditions. What molecular techniques are available for implementing such rewilding? Are the strategies legally, socially, economically, and ethically feasible? These are the questions addressed in this review.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark. Electronic address: palmgren@plen.ku.dk.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Palmgren
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Anna Kristina
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Edenbrandt
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Suzanne Elizabeth
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Vedel
authors.affiliation: Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Vej 4, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
authors.forename: Martin Marchman
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Vej 4, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Landes
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jeppe Thulin
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Østerberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Janus
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Falhof
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Thorvaldsensvej 40, DK-1871 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lene Irene
authors.initials: LI
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 2, DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark.
authors.forename: Søren Brøgger
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Christensen
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark; Department of Large Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, DK-1870 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sandøe
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gamborg
authors.affiliation: Department of Media, Cognition, and Communication, University of Copenhagen, Karen Blixens Vej 4, DK-2300 Copenhagen S, Denmark.
authors.forename: Klemens
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kappel
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 23, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
authors.forename: Bo Jellesmark
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Thorsen
authors.affiliation: Centre for Public Regulation and Administration, Faculty of Law, University of Copenhagen, Studiestræde 6, DK-1455 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pagh
mesh_terms: D000383:Agriculture / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods; D001947:Breeding / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000379:methods*; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*
keywords: reverse breeding; rewilding; sustainable agriculture