marker-assisted selection in wheat

412Marker-assisted selection – Current status and future perspectives in crops, livestock, forestry and fishTable 1Examples of patents relevant to MASTechnique Selected patent examples 1 Public domain equivalent Status of selected patent example ImplicationsHarvesting DNA Use of silica particles US 5 234 809 Many, e.g. Doyle andDoyle, 1987 and Saghai-Maroof et al. 1984Amplification ofspecific DNA seqsIdentification ofmarker genesEquipment“Matrix Mill”US 6 063 616 Many, e.g. Edwards,Johnstone andThompson, 1991.Combination withcentrifuge tubeIn effect in the United States;related patents in effect in: Austria,Australia, Canada, Denmark,Germany, EU, Greece, Japan,Republic of Korea, Netherlands,South Africa and SpainReagents US 4 683 195 None Expired in all countries (thereforein public domain)Primers/genes Primers for identifyingSoybean Sudden DeathResistanceUS 6 300 541Equipment Applied Biosystems ThermalCyclerUS 5 656 493Reagents Agarose, no applicablepatents foundEquipment Charge-coupled deviceimaging apparatusMany e.g., Röder et al.,1998. gwm493 in wheatOther equipment isavailable; contentiouslegal issues associatedwith manyLicence needed; often suppliedwith reagents, kits and/orequipment such as thermal cyclersIn effect in the United States If specialized equipment is used,licence may be needed. Likelihoodthat coverage would extend todeveloping country areasAdvance or improvement likelywill require licensing, many evenin developing countriesIn effect in the United States Sequence(s) to be used shouldbe checked by a patent searchersuch as Gene-IT.com if breedingproduct is valuable and would begrown for exportIn effect is the United States andmost other developed countries,and a few developing countriesincluding Brazil, China, Republicof Korea, South AfricaPolyacrylamide No patent rights on traditional gel/acrylamide mediaCameras Many systems that are no longerunder rights protectionMAS methods, ingeneralMethods andcompositionsUS 5 672 881Use of selective DNAfragment amplificationproducts for hybridizationbasedgenetic fingerprinting,MAS, and high-throughputscreening. US 6 100 030Numerous In effect in the United States Likely defensive patents. Could beproblematic with imports to theUnited StatesQTL mapping in plantbreeding populations.US 6 399 8551There will inevitably be innovative improvements or technological advancement associated with each of these methods and materials, many of which will have been awarded IPRs to theinventor and/or the inventor’s company.