6 Mark Tester Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics University of Adelaide Research developments in genetically modified grains

GM crops – the context More crops need to be produced, in the face of rapid global environmental change Food security Rising population - 9 bn by 2050 Fuel security Demand for bio-fuels putting pressure on food crops Climate change Impact greater for Australia than for any developed country Impact greater for agricultural sector than any other sector FAO (Rome, 2009) predicts need 70% more food by 2050 Not much more land can be brought in to production

Need to increase annual increment in food production from 32 to 44 MT 38% increase in the annual increment of food production, sustained for 40 years! Tester & Langridge (2010) Science 327:

The challenge and the opportunity Need to increase food supply - few opportunities to increase area under cultivation - little theoretical chance to increase ‘yield potential’ - need to increase ‘yield stability’ - e.g. drought tolerance salinity tolerance Need innovation - plant science - modern plant breeding e.g. quantitative genetics - genetic modification Tester & Langridge (2010) Science 327:

Field trials by Australian Grains Technology University of Adelaide Measurements of expression of all genes in a genome ACPFG University of Adelaide High throughput research in modern plant science

The Plant Accelerator™ Adelaide Mark Tester High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre Canberra Bob Furbank Australian Plant Phenomics Facility $21 m $32 m Bridging the gap – linking physiology to genetics by use of remote sensing, computing and robotics

Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics Established in 2003 –About 140 staff and students Discover molecular basis for differences in tolerance to abiotic stress in wheat and barley –Drought –Salinity –Drought-related stresses –Nitrogen use efficiency

Modern plant science Genomics High throughput analysis of genes and their immediate products, to study the structure and function of genes and genomes Phenomics High throughput analysis of plant growth and physiology, to reveal the role of each plant gene in the function of the whole plant Genomics + Phenomics = Functional Genomics → innovation, gene discovery

Drought tolerance Salinity tolerance Nitrogen use efficiency Grain quality And how to control them What genes are we discovering?

ControlsLines 3, 7 & 12 Constitutive expression Controls Lines 2, 4 and 5 Stress-inducible expression Drought–inducible expression of transcription factors in barley Sergiy Lopato, Sarah Morran, Natalya Kovalchuk

Darren Plett, Mark Tester et al. unpublished Cell-specific activation of a Na + transporter in Arabidopsis and rice Transgenics transfer less Na + to shoot than background lines and are more salt tolerant Transferring to barley Salinity – cell-specific gene expression in rice

GM field trials 2009 Barley - Flagship, Fleet, Golden Promise ~1300 plants Traits:Boron tolerance Soluble fibre Drought tolerance Nitrogen use efficiency Salinity tolerance, and genes in wheat, too

Give molecular markers and other knowledge directly into conventional breeding programs –Rapid, no regulatory hurdles Genetic modification –Provides opportunity to introduce variation beyond that normally found –More precise How do we deliver discoveries to the farmer?

GM traits currently commercialised Current GM traits in cotton, corn and soy are mainly herbicide and pest resistance Langridge, Whitford and Gilbert (2009)

GM delivery  A difficult but important strategic issue for Australia  GM wheat is becoming a worldwide reality  Yield improvements are becoming more difficult with current breeding techniques  But…..  Financial, political and legal impediments to GM  Issues are even more complex with wheat and barley than current GM crops  Food crops (c.f. cotton, carnations)  Value capture (end point royalties)

No GM wheat anywhere Wheat recently of rapidly increasing interest internationally –large companies investing heavily Australia strong internationally for wheat –commercial and research Big opportunity for Australian farmers –well positioned to benefit from rapid changes Can be first with new technologies in a major world crop –competitive edge

Why does GM matter? The bottom line – world food production must increase Conventional approaches making decreasing relative impact Need more tools – GM is one of them GM is not ‘the answer’, but it can provide another contribution GM also with potential to increase food quality and environmental sustainability