Hybrid Breeding through Simplified Meiosis

Hybrids are the highest producing crop varieties, but the development of new hybrids is extremely lengthy. We are in need of more efficient techniques to rapidly generate new hybrid varieties. This research focusses on the development of new breeding approaches based on several modifications of the process of meiosis: Reduced recombination, increased recombination or induction of unreduced gametes. To transiently silence meiotic genes we use Virus Induced Gene Silencing (VIGS). The silencing of a specific target direclty on the treated plant allows to obtain the desired phenotype in only one generation, avoiding the use of stable transgenes. To date, we have successfully induced several meiotic phenotypes in Arabidopsis thaliana using VIGS. Furthermore, we have developed a new Reverse-Breeding like approach based on the partial reduction of recombination frequencies using VIGS. This method allows the fixation of the hybrid genotype as the result of complementing parental lines. In addition, this technique also provides new homozygous parental lines to produce new putative hybrids. Moreover, we will apply VIGS in tomato to induce meiotic phenotypes. The modification of recombination frequencies and the induction of unreduced gametes will again serve as the basis for the development of novel approaches in tomato breeding.