New Breeding Techniques: Effective And Affordable

New Breeding Techniques (NBTs) are a broad range of methods used for the modifying of genomes and gene expression. Hennie Groenewald, executive manager of Biosafety SA, says that NBTs have an important role to play in developing countries such as South Africa, where the lower costs of the technology make it a viable solution in a competitive market.

"Plant breeding started more than 10 000 years ago, when farmers selected and multiplied plants with the most desirable traits. A major breakthrough in breeding occurred in 1865, when Gregor Mendel first presented the results of his experiments on crossbreeding. This was followed by the development of hybrid breeding in the 1930s, tissue and cell culture methods in the 1960s, and recombinant DNA techniques and genetic engineering in the 1980s.

The subsequent development of genetic engineering (GE) techniques enabled the routine transfer of genetic material between sexually incompatible organisms, and saw the introduction of the first genetically modified (GM) crops in the early 1990s. This raised novel biosafety risks, which resulted in these products being subjected to additional legislation targeting genetically modified organisms (GMOs) to ensure their safety as foods and feed, as well as to the environment. In addition, because of the context in which GM crops are commercialised, their socioeconomic viability is proactively regulated in many countries.

The GMO Act in South Africa is an example of such legislation, and defines a GM product as genetic material modified in a way that does not occur naturally.

Until recently, deciding whether a new product was considered a GMO (and therefore subject to this additional regulation) was a relatively simple matter. A non-GMO was obtained by breeding techniques that exploited only endogenous genetic potential (conventional breeding), while a GMO contained genetic material from another, sexually incompatible organism that was transferred using GE techniques.

More recent biotechnological developments, generally referred to as New Breeding Techniques (NBTs), or Precision Breeding Techniques, have blurred these lines.