The Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), along with research groups from France-based Institute of National Recherche de la Agronomique and the University of California, has succeeded in cloning seed for next generation.
It has developed Apomixis technologies, the concept of clonal seed formation, which would help in accelerating plant breeding, said Imran Siddiqi, scientist at CCMB, said.
The clonal reproduction through seeds have the potential to revolutionise agriculture and would benefit farmers of developing countries in increasing yields of crop. It occurs naturally in a few plant species and not in food crop.
High-yielding hybrids in crops are made by crossing two parental varieties, which are genetically different from each other. Therefore, the seeds from the hybrid do not perform well like the parent seed, he said.
The clonal reproduction through seeds is done by manipulating a small number of known genes (2-4) that are involved in chromosome organisation and segregation during germ cell formation and cell division. For the first time ever, the research found that the strategies for engineering apomixis in food crops can be achieved through this manipulation, he said.
The process would manipulate plant genes, without adding any toxins and genes, he claimed. Initially the gene modification would be tested on the model plants and later on the commercial plants, he said.
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This would reduce the cost of hybrid seed production and farmers would be able to multiply their own hybrid seed.
The research was funded by the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR). "We are working on frequency of elimination and efficiency in gene discovery. In the next five-ten years, we would apply this technology on the field," Siddiqi said.