Print This PageSeeing, Tracking and Stacking New Traits
New support sciences are unlocking a world of possibilities for traditional plant breeders like Seminis. Our researchers can now work with highly complex traits, combining them in new ways. We are also finding new solutions in wild plant relatives — a vast reservoir of genetic diversity.
Marker-Assisted Selection
To develop new and better products, plant breeders can only work with traits that they can see or measure — the color and size of the fruit, the time it takes for the plants to mature, the ability to remain healthy when infected by a plant disease, for example. Sometimes the genes that influence these traits are easy to see and track. More often, they are hidden in the tens of thousands of genes that make up plants.
Through genomics (gene sequencing), DNA fingerprinting and molecular markers, we are now able to map thousands of genes and their influence, and flag the ones we want. This process — called marker-assisted selection — allows us to quickly screen large populations of plants for traits that can benefit our customers. We can, in short, find the needle in the haystack. And we can do it more quickly than ever before.
Sometimes, we find new traits in the strangest places. A wild tomato from Peru, for instance. Inside the small, green fruits, Seminis discovered a gene that increases the red color of tomatoes and the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene. We have also been able to stack disease resistance traits in ways that were previously thought impossible. Someday, it may be feasible to have natural "built in" resistance to dozens of diseases, all in one plant.
Some of the first crops benefiting from these new tools are tomato, pepper and onion.
Tomatoes resistant to Gemini virus were developed with the help of the molecular markers, a tool that allows researchers to manage complex traits more simply.
