(2023, Aug. 07)

A Wizardly Aid in Seed Quality Control and Plant Breeding

Breeding parental lines represent the most valuable assets of a seed company. In order to produce high-quality seeds, it is essential to ensure the purity of the parental background. Nevertheless, to protect their breeding germplasm from leakage, it cannot be entrusted to others for analysis. Therefore, assisting seed companies to establish their own seed quality testing system will enhance the competitiveness of seed companies in the industry. Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, M.O.A. (TSIPS) constructed a Bio-Open Lab last year, which can serve as an empirical field for the industry to expedite the development of new varieties and to conduct molecular testing of seed purity. It can be rented to use by the industry in the near future. Furthermore, the molecular markers they have developed for Cucurbitaceae, Solanaceae, and Cruciferae can be provided for testing seed purity and plant disease resistance. Besides, TSIPS has also launched customized molecular plant testing courses to help the domestic seed industry upgrade its research and development capabilities. These will be beneficial to the seed companies when they plan to transition from conventional breeding to applying molecular biology tools in the R&D of new varieties and seed quality control.

Seeds are important agricultural export products in Taiwan. According to agricultural import and export statistics, the export value of Taiwan's seeds in 2022 was approximately 27 million US dollars. Watermelon, melon, loose-head cauliflower, papaya, and cherry tomatoes are among the main seed exports from Taiwan. Due to the high value of seeds, the competition in the international seed market is very fierce, prompting the adoption of molecular testing techniques as standard tools for the R&D of new varieties and seed quality control in international seed enterprises. However, domestic seed companies are mainly small and medium-sized, restricting their capacity to hire a sufficient number of employees. They are eager to hire individuals with field practice and laboratory skills, but they face a shortage of professional manpower.

TSIPS stated that they surveyed the demands of seed companies and customized molecular testing courses based on their feedback. Last August, they held a course focused on molecular purity testing and target gene detection, providing both theoretical knowledge and hands-on training. The workshop was limited to fewer than 8 participants to ensure individual practice opportunities. In the advanced training course held in May this year, they arranged a target gene and SNP primer design hands-on course using reference genomes deposited in a public sequence database. This skill will empower seed companies to develop molecular markers for their varieties in the future. Currently, 7 domestic seed companies, including Suntech Seed Co., Ltd., Bucolic Seeds Co., Ltd., Liang Chung Agricultural Co., Ltd., etc., have participated in the courses. The next customized course is scheduled to be held from September 5th to 6th of this year. This upcoming course will focus on plant virus detection of seeds and also provide an introduction to the principles of gene editing technologies. Interested seed companies are encouraged to contact the Seed and Seedling Testing Section of TSIPS for sign-up (04-25825536, or E-mail: ehang@tss.gov.tw).

• Contact: Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, MOA. Assistant Researcher, Lin, Ju-Ling
  Telephone: (04)25825537
  E-mail: jllin@tss.gov.tw
• Contact: Taiwan Seed Improvement and Propagation Station, MOA. Researcher and Deputy Director, Liu, Ming-Chung
  Telephone: (04) 25825402
  E-mail: tzong@tss.gov.tw

▲Fig.1. The trainees conducted nucleic acid extraction from plant materials

▲Fig. 2. The trainees conducted PCR reaction for target gene detection