In higher-order plants, seed production usually comes about as a result of sexual reproduction. Some plants develop seeds without fertilization, however. This phenomenon is known as apomixis. It involves the development of embryos containing the same genetic information as the mother plant and which are in effect clones. Apomixis occurs naturally in around 40 plant families and more than 400 plant species. None of the major global cash crops undergoes apomixis by nature, but it would be possible to induce apomixis by genetic engineering. This could revolutionize plant breeding.

High performance varieties of the world's most important cultivated plants such as corn or wheat are what are known as hybrids. Hybrids are produced by crossing two inbred parent lines displaying different performance characteristics such as high output and resistance to specific disease-causing organisms. The resulting seed displays what is called the heterosis effect, i.e. the desirable properties of the parent lines are combined in the plants of the new generation. The good harvest has its price, however. According to the laws of heredity, the seed produced by this harvest will only produce mediocre or indeed poor outputs owing to the mixture of maternal and paternal genes. With the apomixis technique, each hybrid line could be cultivated and reused. It would make sense for the first time ever to keep seed from high performance hybrid varieties for sowing the next season.

Scientists around the world are therefore working on triggering apomixis in the major cultivated crops (corn, rice, wheat) by gene transfer. Industry and publicly funded research institutes alike are interested in developing the new technology. Apomixis would make it much quicker for plant breeders to develop new varieties that for example are specially adapted to suit specific local environmental conditions. It would make the preservation and proliferation of all varieties possible, including hybrids. Farmers in the developing countries in particular would stand to benefit from the technology if the seed were made available to them at a low price.

Vast resources in terms of time and money are being invested in apomixis research. Patent applications are therefore highly likely to follow hot on the heels of reproducible results. The first apomictic corn was patented in the USA in 1997. There is the danger that access to this new technology will be limited to a few users and that the technology will be controlled by a few global players. Therefore, a declaration was passed in 1998 at an international conference on apomixis research at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Conference and Study Center with the aim of promoting affordable access to this technology for all and pinpointing the potential negative side effects associated with commercial exploitation of apomixis. One possible scenario are restrictions on the global sale of agricultural products produced in the developing countries using technologies patented in the industrialized countries. This splitting into domestic and export markets would lower the competitiveness of farmers in the developing countries. Important issues - such as seed prices and licensing requirements - need to be addressed prior to large-scale commercialization of apomictic crops in order to ensure that the developing countries can share in the benefits of the new technology.

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