Biodiversity, Genomics and Intellectual Property Rights
Aureliano Bombarely Translational Genomics Assistant Professor Department of Horticulture [email protected] ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
SinningiaA. Niemeyer Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia speciosa helleri tubiflora cardinalis conspicua
Taxonomic (e.g. Family / Genus / Species) ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
Tigrina Red
Blue Knight
SinningiaA. Niemeyer Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia speciosa helleri tubiflora cardinalis conspicua Genetic (e.g. Populations / Varieties) / Populations (e.g. Genetic (Avenida Niemeyer)
Taxonomic (e.g. Family / Genus / Species) ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
Tigrina Red
Blue Knight Ecological (e.g. human interaction)
A. Niemeyer Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia helleri tubiflora cardinalis conspicua Genetic (e.g. Populations / Varieties) / Populations (e.g. Genetic
Taxonomic (e.g. Family / Genus / Species) ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity (34,000) Bryophytes ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity (34,000) Bryophytes (10,000) Pteridophytes ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity (34,000) Bryophytes (10,000) Pteridophytes (1,000) Gymnosperms ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity (34,000) Bryophytes (10,000) Pteridophytes (1,000) Gymnosperms Angiosperms (304,000) AmborellalesNymphaealesAustrobaileyales Magnoliids Monocots Eudicots (198,000) (10,000) (62,000) Basal Rosids Asterids dicot ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
Embryophytes - Land plants (350,000)
(34,000) Bryophytes Tracheophytes - Vascular plants (315,000) (10,000) Pteridophytes Spermatophytes - Seed plants (305,000) (1,000) Gymnosperms Angiosperms (304,000) AmborellalesNymphaealesAustrobaileyales Magnoliids Monocots Eudicots (198,000) (10,000) (62,000) Basal Rosids Asterids dicot
~350,000 Land Plant Species ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
Kew - State of the World’s Plants 2016 and 2017 ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
Plant World Biodiversity Hotsposts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversity_hotspot ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
Pictures Copyright © by Sandra Knapp ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
• More land for housing and food production • More water requirements • Faster environmental degradation (e.g. deforestation) • More movement of products and people translated in faster movement of pathogens and invasive species https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Human_population_growth_from_1800_to_2000.png
Deforestation on the Mediterranean Basin 2001 2016
https://www.globalforestwatch.org/ ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
1977 Global Temperature Rise
1987
1997
2007
2017
https://climate.nasa.gov/interactives/climate-time-machine ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
Water Use ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
Water Use vs Biodiversity Hotspots ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
https://stateoftheworldsplants.com/2016/ ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
Plant Breeding & Crop Improvement (Better yield, lower land usage) Plant Pathology and Weed Science
Evolution (Domestication), Population Genetics and Conservation
https://stateoftheworldsplants.com/2016/ ๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
Plant Breeding & Crop Improvement (Better yield, lower land usage) Plant Pathology and Weed Science Genomics
Evolution (Domestication), Population Genetics and Conservation
Genetic characterization (Genotyping) ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crop ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
CROP AREA HARVESTED (M. Ha) Wheat 220 Maize 188 Rice 160 Soybeans 121 Barley 47 Sorghum 45 Rapeseed 34 Millet 32 13.2 M. Ha Seed Cotton 30 Beans 29 Groundnuts 28 Sugar cane 27 Sunflower 26 Cassava 23 Oil palm 21 Vegetables 20 Potatoes 19 Chick peas 13 Cow peas 12 Coconut 12 http://www.fao.org/faostat ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
• First patent: Venice (1474) “...if provision were made for the works and devices discovered by [men of great genius] so that others who may see them could not build them and take the inventors honor away, more men would then apply their genius, would discover, and would build devices of great utility and benefit our commonwealth” (10 years).
• England (1624): Statute of Monopolies “Parliament restricted the Crown's power explicitly so that the King could only issue letters patent to the inventors or introducers of original inventions for a fixed number of years”.
• The first Patent Act of the U.S. Congress was passed on April 10, 1790, titled "An Act to promote the progress of useful Arts". The first patent was granted on July 31, 1790 to Samuel Hopkins for a method of producing potash (potassium carbonate). Rights on the patent for 14 years for $30.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
• Initial position from the US Patent Office about seeds: “seeds were already in the public domain as a product of nature. No one ‘invented’ seeds in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and court decisions reflect this philosophy”.
• 1836 - Henry Ellsworth formalized seed distribution through the Patent Office. He stablished an informal program within the Patent Office to distribute seeds to farmers free of charge by mail. This service moved to the Department of Agriculture in 1868.
Plants were public domain until 1930
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
• First US Plant Patent (Henry Rosenberg’s Rose - 1931)
were for roses 1936, the patent office had issued 167 plant patents, of which seventy-seven
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
• US Plant Patent Act - 1930: Patent protection on asexually produced plants. Paul Stark funded a lobbying group (The National Committee on Plant Patents). Congress approved the act as tribute to Luther Burbank.
• International Convention for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV Convention) - 1961:
• US Plant Variety Protection - 1970: Open pollinated plants.
• Diamond vs Chakrabarty’s process - 1980: Set up the bases to let the GMO be patented.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent ๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
work
{ Luther Burbank’s (10,000 BC) DNA (1973)
Pre-breeding plant domesticationMendelian Inheritance (1866) Boyer-Cohen recombinant (1873) (1925)
(1961)
(1930)
(1970) US Plant Patent Act International UPOV case (1980) Convention First hybrid corn produced (1922) Distribution (1836) Diamond vs Chakrabarty US Patent OfficeSeed dealerFree paidSeed $250 to Burbank for the US Plant Variety Protection rights on the Burbank Seedling potato (1875) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Massive molecular characterization of genomes using Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) approaches
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genomics ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Biological Problem Scientific Question Hypothesis
Approach
Genetics & related disciplines Molecular biology
Experimental Design
Massive DNA Sequencing
Genomic Data Analysis Genomics Results ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
DNA sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases— adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine—in a strand of DNA.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_sequencing
ATGCGCGTCGCGGTGAAT
(Gentile et al. Nano Lett., 2012, 12 (12), pp 6453–6458) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Read length Technology Accuracy Reads/Run Time/Run Cost/Mb (bp)
Applied Bio 3730XL 4 h 400 - 900 99.9% 384 $2,400 (Sanger) (12 runs/day)
Roche 454 GS FLX 700 99.9% 1,000,000 24h $10 (Pyrosequencing) Single/Pairs
Illumina HiSeq4000 (Seq. 75-250 99% 5,000,000,000 24 to 120 h $0.05 to $0.15 by synthesis) Single/Pairs
Ilumina MiSeq 50-300 Single/ 99% 44,000,000 24 to 72 h $0.17 (Seq. by synthesis) Pairs
SOLiD 4 25-50 99.9% 1,400,000,000 168 h $0.13 (Seq. by ligation) Single/Pairs
ION Torrent 170-400 98% 80,000,000 2 h $2 (Seq. by semiconductor) Single
Pacific Biosciences 14,000 85% Sequel 1,600,000 4 h $0.6 Single (99.9%) (SMRT) Oxford N. Minion 10,000 62% 4,400,000 48 h $0.02 (Nanopore sequencing) Single (96%) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Population
Genetics Ecological
Tigrina Red
Blue Knight
A. Niemeyer Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia helleri tubiflora cardinalis conspicua Systematics Genetic (e.g. Populations / Varieties) / Populations (e.g. Genetic
Taxonomic (e.g. Family / Genus / Species) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Population Genetics
Tigrina Red
Blue Knight
A. Niemeyer Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia Sinningia helleri tubiflora cardinalis conspicua Systematics Genetic (e.g. Populations / Varieties) / Populations (e.g. Genetic
Taxonomic (e.g. Family / Genus / Species) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Classical Genetics
Systematics
Population Genetics ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Population (Genetics) Group of organisms or individuals from the same geographical location with the capability of interbreeding.
• Natural populations (e.g. Sinningia speciosa group of plants that grow in the area of Pedra Lisa).
• Artificial populations (e.g. F2 segregating population of Sinningia speciosa Empress x Buzios). ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
•Natural populations •Artificial populations
Biodiversity - Structure & Size. - Genetic maps. - Diversification. - Geno2Pheno links. - Speciation. - QTLs - Selection. - GWAS. - Drift. - Artificial Selection. - Fitness. - Domestication. - Migration. ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
✴ Genotyping approaches.
Genotyping: It is the process of determining genetic differences of an individual by examining the individual's DNA sequence.
Genome sequencing Cost effective approaches
Reduced representation
1. Targeted amplification (e.g. TrueSeq Custom Amplicon) 2. Hybridization (e.g. Sequence Capture) 3. Enzymatic Digestion + Size selection (e.g. RAD-Seq / GBS) 4. RNA isolation (RNA-Seq) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
✴ Genotyping approaches. 1. Targeted amplification (e.g. TrueSeq Custom Amplicon)
Gene A Gene B Gene C
RE RE RE RE site site site site
Amplification Different samples Different MIDs
Library preparation and sequencing
Fastq Files ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
✴ Genotyping approaches. 2. Hybridization (e.g. Sequence Capture)
Gene A Gene B Gene C
RE RE RE RE Fragmentation site site site site
DNA Capture PCR MID
Different samples Amplification and Lib. preparation Different MIDs
Sequencing
Fastq Files ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
✴ Genotyping approaches. 3. Enzymatic Digestion + Size selection (e.g. RAD-Seq / GBS)
Gene A Gene B Gene C
RE RE RE RE Digestion site site site site
PCR MID RE Adapters ligation
Different samples Different MIDs Amplification (Size selection ~500bp)
Sequencing
Genotyping-By-Sequencing (GBS) Fastq Files
Elshire et al. 2011 PLOS One 6:e193779 ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
✴ Genotyping approaches. 4. RNA isolation (RNA-Seq)
Gene A Gene B Gene C
RE RE RE Gene expression RE site site site site
RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis
Different samples Library preparation and sequencing Different MIDs
Fastq Files ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Example of Plant Biodiversity Study using Genomic Tools:
Domestication of Sinningia speciosa
Tomas Hasing (PhD project) Dr. Dave Zaitlin (Collaborator at UK)
Funded by The Gesneriad Society and VT Start-Up ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Sinningia is a genus with 67 species of the Gesneriaceae family and the Sinningieae tribe (with two other genus: Paliavana, with 6 species and Vanhouttea with 8 species). It has used as a model for pollination syndromes.
Sinningia glazioviana Sinningia curtiflora Sinningia brasilensis “hummingbird flowers,” “hummingbird flowers,” “bat flowers” with a red tubular corolla; with short red green colors; tubular corolla (≤ 1 cm);
Sinningia conspicua Sinningia pusilla Sinningia tubiflora “bee flowers” “bee flowers” “moth flowers” tubular corolla with purple, blue small blue flowers; long white tubular flowers; or yellow colors;
Pictures from: http://www.burwur.net/sinns/sinns.htm (Perret et al. 2007) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Sinningia domestication Kew 1815 ? Gardens Alan Cunningham
- Introduced in United Kingdom in first half of XIX century. - Popular ornamental plant in the 1950’s. - Breeding made by amateurs
Wild S. speciosa Semidomesticated Domesticated S. speciosa S. speciosa ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Sinningia domestication
Wild S. speciosa Domesticated S. speciosa
• Bilateral/Zygomorphic • Radial/Actinomorphic symmetry symmetry
4 4
2 1 2 1 3 4 3 4 3 3 2 8 2 8
1 7 1 5 5 7 6 7 6 6 7 6 8 5 8 5 • Straight-up orientation Morphometrics: tpsDig2 • Pendant orientation • Purple/red/pink/whiteMorphometrics: tpsDig2 corolla • Purple/white corolla • 6-10 petals/ 6 stamens • 5 petals/stamens • Double/triple corolla ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Genetic Variation
BIODIVERSITY PANEL SUMMARY Library preparation APeKI digestion S. speciosa wild relatives 20 S. speciosa old cultivars 12 Sequencing Illumina, single end, 100 bp S. speciosa F1: 3 S. speciosa modern cultivars: 21 Other Sinningia wild species: 56 De-multiplexing GBSX v1.2 Other Sinningia hybrids: 11 ——————————————————————————————————— Read processing Fastq-mcf v1.04.807, Q30, L50 Total 123
Alignment Bowtie2 v2.2.4
Variant detection Freebayes v0.9.20 bcftools: only biallelic SNPs SNP filtering vcffliter: Q>30, Depth >= 5 vcftools: no missing observations
9,913 SNPs (All Sinningia) 25,083 SNPs (S. speciosa) ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Genus Genetic distances PCA analysis ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Genus Genetic distances PCA analysis ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Genus Genetic distances PCA analysis
Empress Red Buzios Sinningia speciosa
A. Niemeyer ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Genus Genetic distances PCA analysis
Sinningia helleri Paliavana prasinata
Sinningia group
A. Niemeyer Sinningia tuberosa ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Genus Genetic distances PCA analysis
Sinningia tubiflora Sinningia brasilensis Corytholoma group
Sinningia richii ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Genus Genetic distances PCA analysis
Sinningia cardinalis
Dircaea group
Sinningia douglasii Sinningia conspicua ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Genetic distances PCA analysis ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Genetic distances PCA analysis
Purple Dreaming
Hybrids
Ann’s Nyx
Amanda’s Penny ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Genetic Variation in the Species
Buzios
Carangola A. Niemeyer
Wild representatives Carangola C. Moreira
C. Moreira
Buzios Avenida Niemeyer
Imbe Imbe ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
Domesticated
Kaiser Friedrich Diego Pink Tigrina Red
Empress Red White F1 Buzios x Empress Red
Blue Knight Darth Vader
Empress Purple ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Species
Domesticated genetic diversity
Wild type genetic diversity ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Species
Domesticated genetic diversity
Wild type genetic diversity Genetic Bottleneck ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Species
Founder Wild Avenida Niemeyer representatives
Old world cultivars
Semi domesticated Nested wild representative with domesticated
Old world cultivars
Wild representatives ๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity Genetic Variation in the Species
Founder Admixture Analysis with K = 3 Avenida Niemeyer ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can access/use to the genomic information?
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies? ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can access/use to the genomic information?
Title 35 of the United States Code, which lays out the criteria that must be satisfied for a patent to be granted. According to the Code, a patent may only be granted on: • "any new and useful process, • machine, • manufacture, • or composition of matter, • or any new and useful improvement thereof."
Laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas cannot be patented. Even if this first hurdle is passed, the invention must be novel; the existence of 'prior art' shows that someone else invented it first, of course. Also, the invention cannot be obvious to "a person having ordinary skill in the art to which said subject matter pertains."
https://www.genome.gov/19016590/intellectual-property/ ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can access/use to the genomic information?
1. Discovery ⍯ Invention. 2. A public sequence is consider PUBLIC DOMAIN
A sequencing methodology (an invention) may be patentable but not the results of apply that methodology to a fragment of DNA (a discovery)
https://www.genome.gov/19016590/intellectual-property/ ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can access/use to the genomic information?
A sequencing methodology (an invention) may be patentable but not the results of apply that methodology to a fragment of DNA (a discovery)
A test or method designed to identify a DNA fragment, polymorphism or variant (an invention) may be patentable.
https://www.genome.gov/19016590/intellectual-property/ ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can access/use to the genomic information?
U.S. Trademark and Patent Office (USPTO) raised their bar for issuing such patents, with new guidelines stating that identification of a gene's sequence alone is not patentable, but that a gene isolated from its natural state may be patentable if the applicants can demonstrate "specific, substantial and credible utility"
Discovery?
https://www.genome.gov/19016590/intellectual-property/ ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can access/use to the genomic information?
Discovery Invention Arabidopsis gene structure Tomato GMO over and function of AtMYB12 expressing AtMYB12
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/819359
Cathie Martin and Katrina Bulling at the John Innes Centre lab in Norwich (Credit: Anthony Kelly) ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies? Novel genomic methodologies are inventions.
US patent law recognizes an exemption or exception from infringement associated with bona-fide research ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies?
Gene A Gene B Gene C e.g. GBS case
RE RE RE RE Digestion site site site site
PCR MID RE Adapters ligation
Different samples Different MIDs Amplification (Size selection ~500bp)
Sequencing
Genotyping-By-Sequencing (GBS) Fastq Files
Elshire et al. 2011 PLOS One 6:e193779 ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies?
Scientific publication prior patent = Public domain ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies?
Patent after publication date
But… ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies? But… the patent claim that it is based in a previous patents
The OLA-principle (Oligonucleotide Ligation Assay) has been described, amongst others, in US 4,988,617 (Landegren et a/.). This publication discloses a method for determining the nucleic acid sequence in a region of a known nucleic acid sequence having a known possible mutation or polymorphism. To detect the mutation, oligonucleotides are selected to anneal to immediately adjacent segments of the sequence to be determined.
In WO2007100243, the application of next generation sequencing technology to the results of oligonucleotide ligation assays have been described. ๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
• Who can use specific genomic methodologies?
No DNA digestion by Restriction Enzymes but use of NGS for SNP detection on DNA amplified fragments… still the DNA digestion is in a different patent (AFLPs: EP0534858A1, 1991). ๏ Dimensions of the Plant Biodiversity
๏ Challenges for Plant Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
๏ Crops, Patents and Making Profitable Plant Breeding
๏ Genomics Tools for Plant Biodiversity
๏ Intellectual Property and Genomic Information
๏ Open Source and Public Domain ๏ Open Source and Public Domain
https://osseeds.org/
The Pledge states: "You have the freedom to use these OSSI-Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives." Use of the Pledge ensures the four open source seed freedoms for this and future generations, including:
• The freedom to save or grow seed for replanting or for any other purpose. • The freedom to share, trade, or sell seed to others. • The freedom to trial and study seed and to share or publish information about it. • The freedom to select or adapt the seed, make crosses with it, or use it to breed new lines and varieties. ๏ Open Source and Public Domain
https://osseeds.org/
415 varieties
Rice = 0 Barley = 0 Wheat = 1 Maize = 27 Soybean = 0 ๏ Open Source and Public Domain
https://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/public-domain/welcome/ ๏ Open Source and Public Domain
1. Biodiversity can not be patented and it should be protected from private interest.
2. Genes associated to the phenotypic diversity can be DISCOVERED but not patented.
3. GENE applications could be patented but they need to be narrow down to do not block the public interests and the global benefit.
4. Genomic approaches can give us the scientific framework to characterize the biodiversity and protect it.