Tim Sharbel is working on a “totally disruptive” breeding technique that could transform agriculture.
“If this works this is one of those dream technologies, the golden ring,” said the director of the seed and developmental biology program at the Global Institute for Food Security.
“It’s worth billions. Whoever cracks this is going to win the Nobel Prize. That’s where it’s at.”
Sharbel and his team are attempting to introduce the apomixis trait into food crops. Apomixis is a naturally occurring phenomenon in plants like Kentucky bluegrass, St. John’s wort and buttercups that allows plants to reproduce seeds asexually.
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The trick is identifying what genes in apomictic plants are responsible for the process because they are “weird” plants that are hard to figure out.
“It’s a long shot. It’s basically like finding a cure for cancer,” said Sharbel. “But if we nail it, agriculture is going to be flipped on its head. We will change everything.”
The trait would allow companies to produce hybrids in about one-eighth the time it takes today. And it would give farmers the ability to use farm-saved seed and get the same hybrid vigour year after year.
Sharbel has identified two genes from a boechera plant, which is a cousin of wild cabbage and canola, that he hopes might be the key to introducing the apomixis trait in a variety of crops. His lab has inserted the candidate genes called Apollo and Upgrade into brassica and corn crops to see if they confer the ability of asexual reproduction on the crops.
“We’re actually going to be analyzing the results very soon, so keep your fingers crossed,” he said.
Sharbel doubts the genes will immediately transform the plants into 100 percent asexual crops right off the bat. But he is hoping for some signs of asexual reproduction, which would provide proof of concept and attract more funding.
A number of PhD students from the University of Saskatchewan have been analyzing all sorts of aspects of the patented Apollo gene and the data indicates it plays an important role in the apomixis process.
“We’ve got our foot in the door definitely,” said Sharbel.
His lab is one of many around the world working on introducing the apomixis trait to agricultural crops.
One of the game changers apomixis offers agriculture is that it gives farmers the ability to save hybrid seed and reuse it without losing hybrid vigour because each seed is a clone of the parent plant.
“It sounds bad for companies but actually companies are terribly interested in this,” he said.
“They’re going to have to completely change their business models. It will become like MP3 technology.”
To create hybrid vigour today, seed companies must inbreed plant populations for a minimum of eight generations to get the highly homogenized plants they need.
“The technology behind it is quite complex and expensive,” said Sharbel.
What the apomixis trait does is takes the sex out of plant breeding. The female plant produces offspring that are genetic clones without any fertilization from the male.
So if a crop breeder discovers a plant with a desired trait, they can use the apomixis trait to turn off the sex switch in that plant and lock in that desired trait.
It means seed companies would be able to churn out new and improved varieties in a fraction of the time it currently takes.
“Your ability to produce a genetic variant that is useful for farmers goes from eight to 10 years down to one to two years,” said Sharbel.
“Time is money.”
The technology would also allow companies to create hybrids in crops where it is impossible today, such as lentils and chickpeas.
The best case scenario for when the technology is ready would be five years, but that is unlikely.
“It all depends on the nature of what we find,” said Sharbel.
