Unlocking the Power of Synthetic Apomixis A Paradigm Shift in Plant Breeding

This session was presented at the 2024 World Congress on In Vitro Biology Meeting held in St. Louis, Missouri from June 8 - 12, 2024 and was recorded as part of the In-Person and On-Demand Limited Access Program.

UNLOCKING THE POWER OF SYNTHETIC APOMIXIS: A PARADIGM SHIFT IN PLANT BREEDING

Apomixis is a form of asexual reproduction that bypasses meiosis and fertilization and generates clonal seeds, genetically identical to the maternal genotype. Apomixis has evolved independently in more than 40 different plant families, but it is still rare in major crop species. Given that apomixis can fix and propagate any genotype, including F1 hybrids, the applications for plant breeding are potentially revolutionary. Harnessing apomixis would enable the efficient creation of self-reproducing hybrids capable of maintaining heterosis, generation after generation, even in crops that are not typically cultivated as hybrids. For crop species where no natural apomicts exist, synthetic apomixis has been demonstrated to be a promising approach. Synthetic apomixis requires engineering a plant to bypass meiosis and repress recombination while simultaneously inducing parthenogenesis. This workshop will focus on recent strides in developing efficient apomictic systems for agriculture, bridging the gap between research and practical applications. Join us to explore the realization of the elusive "Holy Grail" of synthetic apomixis and self-reproducing hybrid plants.

This work is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative [grant no. 2022-67013-37019/project accession no. 1028426] from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Note: Peggy Ozias-Akins and Marissa Simon's presentation were unable to be included in this recording.