Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 76 Page 77 Page 78 Page 79 Page 80 Page 81 Page 82 Page 83 Page 8466 / SEEDWORLD.COM JANUARY 2017 yield loss for growers. “This will allow us to look at solutions to problems that plant breeders have not been able to address in the past,” Flint said. Corinne Marshall of Sakata Seeds, a global producer of vegetable and flower seed, added that viral disease transmitted by insects can be a huge problem. Fungal pathogens in the soil such as Verticillium and fusarium are also quite problematic,” she said. “Downy mildew in spinach, bacterial leaf spot in peppers and tomatoes — those are just some of the many disease and pathogen problems that we are facing.” Marshall share that the conventional solutions have been chemical control, which can be applied when needed and can address multiple issues. However, she said that it really restricts companies from the organic market and there are environ- mental risks associated with use, as well as additional costs. “Other ways we’ve tried to better manage these issues is to build the resist- ance into varieties and not be restricted to playing the organic market,” Marshall said. “But the problem with that is we deal with very specific races and specific diseases and the cost can be quite expensive.” Marshall gave Downy mildew in spinach as an example. “The demand for organic spinach exploded in the early 90s,” she said. “Since that time, we’ve been challenged with trying to come up with ways to deal with the problem, and we are basically chasing resistance and the races pop up annually. “The future of organic spinach pro- duction is questionable. How long are we going to be able to keep up with the challenge of dealing with the resistance and come up with ways to handle that? Gene editing could provide the solution to having the stronger resistance to Downy mildew in spinach.” She said it can be used to enhance nutrition in many vegetables, so it goes beyond just dealing with disease and pathogens. “This is a very exciting pros- pect,” Marshall said. “Lycosine and gluco- simulates in broccoli, which can reduce chronic disease or slow disease such as cancer; Sulphurephane is a glucosimulate in broccoli and most us know that when we cook the broccoli, we lose the nutri- ent. So gene editing can actually help us solve that problem.” Marshall also gave the examples of tomato and watermelon as crops that could benefit from gene editing. It’s more precise and more efficient, she said, noting that it would not change the way Sakata does things with regards to product development and the rigorous process that it takes to bring products to market. But the benefits of the technology go beyond disease resistance and nutrition could include increasing nitrogen use efficiency, drought resistance, flavor, yield and seed quality. It can also benefit crops that don’t have the profitability associated with corn and soybeans or high-value vegetables. And it can benefit universities and small companies because it doesn’t have the same regulatory cost associated with it. Juliet Marshall, University of Idaho associate professor and small grains expert, said that gene editing could be use to create disease resistant varie- ties of wheat and barley. She focused on Fusarium head blight (FHB) and the resulting vomitoxin. Currently there are no resistant varie- ties, only partial resistance. It’s a serious disease and poses a very difficult situa- tion. This is where gene editing can come into play, she said. At the end, Marshall explained the importance of public institutions ability to use these techniques. “The public sector often is where things start,” she said. “We can provide proof of concept, proof of where things really work. We can use transgenics to identify how things work. We can use gene editing, which is not genetically modified, to go in and pro- duce a crop that would be resistant to the disease and to the accumulation of these toxins. So we are working to enhance those traits and those crops that are also not commercially viable. SW Modern plant breeding is not a set place that industry has arrived at; it’s an evolution, explained the American Seed Trade Association’s Andy LaVigne, president and CEO, during a press conference. WHERE ON THE WEB For more information from ASTA’s Corn, Sorghum and Soybean Seed Research Conference and Seed Expo, including video, check out SeedWorld.com.