What plant breeding may (and may not) look like in 2050?

At the turn of 2000 many authors envisioned future plant breeding. Twenty years after, which of those authors' visions became reality or not, and which ones may become so in the years to come. After two decades of debates, climate change is a "certainty," food systems shifted from maximizing farm production to reducing environmental impact, and hopes placed into GMOs are mitigated by their low appreciation by consumers. We revise herein how plant breeding may raise or reduce genetic gains based on the breeder's equation. "Accuracy of Selection" has significantly improved by many experimental-scale field and laboratory implements, but also by vulgarizing statistical models, and integrating DNA markers into selection. Pre-breeding has really promoted the increase of useful "Genetic Variance." Shortening "Recycling Time" has seen great progression, to the point that achieving a denominator equal to "1" is becoming a possibility. Maintaining high "Selection Intensity" remains the biggest challenge, since adding any technology results in a higher cost per progeny, despite the steady reduction in cost per datapoint. Furthermore, the concepts of variety and seed enterprise might change with the advent of cheaper genomic tools to monitor their use and the promotion of participatory or citizen science. The technological and societal changes influence the new generation of plant breeders, moving them further away from field work, emphasizing instead the use of genomic-based selection methods relying on big data. We envisage what skills plant breeders of tomorrow might need to address challenges, and whether their time in the field may dwindle.

Presence of antibodies against tick-borne encephalitis virus in sheep in Tunisia, North Africa

BACKGROUND

Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEv) is a flavivirus that circulates in a complex cycle involving small mammals as amplifying hosts and ticks as vectors and reservoirs. The current study aimed to investigate the presence of TBEv in Tunisian sheep. A sample of 263 adult sheep were selected from 6 localities where Ixodes ricinus is well established. Sera were screened using ELISA for TBEv IgG detection, then the doubtful and positive sera were tested by the seroneutralisation test (SNT) and screened for West Nile Virus (WNv) IgG for cross-reaction assessment.

RESULTS

The ELISA for TBEv IgG detected one positive serum and 17 borderlines. The SNT showed one positive serum among the 18 tested, giving an overall antibody prevalence of 0.38% (95% CI = 0.07-2.12%). All but one serum tested negative to WNv ELISA. None of the sheep farmers reported neurological signs among sheep or humans in their households.

CONCLUSIONS

The results may indicate the circulation of TBEv for the first time in Tunisia and in North Africa. Further studies based on either virus isolation or RNA detection, are needed to confirm the presence of TBEv in North Africa.