Mapping the Peach part 2

Mapping the Peach. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. It has taken 10 years but recently an international team of scientists have publicly released the peach genome sequence, the first genome completed for crops in the Rosaceae family. While the scientific and ag communities can celebrate this event there are those that see this as an opening of Pandora's Box. Jim McFerson, manager of the Washington Tree Fruit Research Commission. MCFERSON: That's what agriculture has been about. If we didn't finagle the plants and the animals that we live with we would be hunter gatherers which would be fine for some people but probably not for most, so the process of domestication plant breeding has been underway for tens of thousands of years. This information when applied is really an extension of conventional genetics. It does not involve transferring DNA from another organism to a target organism. McFerson says that the sequencing of the peach genome actually gives scientists tools to make conventional breeding more efficient and effective. He says they are already using this information. MCFERSON: It's funny, I was on a teleconference today with a national committee – about 15 scientists from throughout the world. We had people calling from France, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand and of course domestically. Most of the scientists in this area now whether they're working with almonds, with apples or peach are using this information to interpret the data that they have and to plan new experiments. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.