Plants will play a critical role in the survival of human beings on long-duration space missions, probably beginning pretty soon with a mission to Mars. Plants can adapt to extreme environments on Earth, and model plants have been shown to grow and develop through a full life cycle in microgravity. In space, long-term human space exploration missions require a life support system in which higher plants play a vital role. Growing crops in space is as much about developing the humans’ technological capacity to provide plants with adequate growth conditions in the unique microgravity environment, as is about the symbiotic relationship between plants and space travelers. After several decades of research, we have learned a lot about the impediments to growing plants in microgravity, in outer space, and on other planets. As human space exploration advances, we should feel confident about our ability to grow plants on board spacecraft during long-term space missions, on the Moon, and on other planets. Plants will require specialized environments for growth and development in microgravity, but – at least on a small scale – we already know how to produce such growth chambers and greenhouses.
Part of the book: Into Space
The term “essentially derived varieties” (EDVs) was introduced by the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) to prevent the exploitation of minor changes in relation to the initial plant variety (IV), without the holder of the IV right being able to share in the revenues. A plant variety is deemed an EDV when it is predominantly derived from the IV, or from a variety that is itself predominantly derived from the IV, while retaining the expression of the essential characteristics that result from the genotype of the IV. Molecular markers can be used to characterize plant genetic resources and to provide measures of genetic (dis)similarities between plant varieties. Genetic distance estimates based on molecular markers are a preferred approach to estimate genetic conformity between putative EDVs and their IVs. Numerous publications have shown the advantages of molecular markers, their high throughput, high map resolution, and high repeatability for determination of EDVs. They help reduce the legal uncertainty surrounding the EDV concept, thus providing a more predictable business environment that allows genetic diversity to be surveyed with ever-increasing effectiveness, improving the selection of new genotypes that are optimally able to perform in target agricultural environments.
Part of the book: Case Studies of Breeding Strategies in Major Plant Species