Announcements

International Symposium on Induced Mutations in Plants (ISIM), Vienna, Austria, 12 - 15 August 2008

Background

The year 2008 marks the 80th anniversary of mutation induction in crop plants. The application of mutation techniques, i.e. gamma rays and other physical and chemical mutagens, has generated a vast amount of genetic variability and has played a significant role in plant breeding and genetic studies. The widespread use of induced mutants in plant breeding programmes throughout the world has led to the official release of more than 2600 mutant crop varieties. A large number of these varieties (including cereals, pulses, oil, root and tuber crops, and ornamentals) have been released in developing countries, resulting in enormous positive economic impacts.

The International Symposium on Induced Mutations in Plants (ISIM) was the eighth in the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme's Symposium series dedicated exclusively to harnessing and disseminating information on current trends in induced mutagenesis in plants, the first of which was held in 1969 and the last in 1995. These previous symposia dealt with themes relating to the development of efficient protocols for induced mutagenesis and their role in the enhancement of quality traits, as well as resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses in crops and the integration of in vitro and molecular genetic techniques in mutation induction.

Since 1995, there has been an increased interest within the scientific community, not only in the use of induced mutations for developing improved crop varieties and for the discovery of genes controlling important traits and understanding their functions and mechanisms of actions, but also in deciphering the biological nature of DNA damage, repair and mutagenesis. A symposium that brought together the key players in basic research, as well as in the development and application of technologies relating to the efficient use of induced mutations for crop improvement and empirical genetic studies, was therefore justified and necessary.

Main Topics

Topics addressed at the symposium: