Aplikasi Teknik Rekayasa Genetik dalam Perbaikan Sumber Daya Genetik Tanaman untuk Ketahanan Cekaman Biotik

The main constraint encountered in the utilization of plant genetic resources (PGR) in agriculture are biotic stresses such as insect pests, plant diseases, and plant parasitic nematodes. The application of genetic engineering techniques create a great opportunity for crops improvements particularly for insect and plant diseases resistance. Through genetic engineering, genetically engineered (GE) crops have been developed, of which having the new traits such as resistance to insect pests, plant diseases, and herbicide tolerance. GE crops are already widely grown and marketed in many countries. Globally, GE crops that are commercialized consists of four categories of traits, which are insect resistance (IR), herbicide tolerance, (HT), the combined traits of IR and HT (stacked genes), and virus resistance. Initially, GE crops had been commercialized globally covering 1.7 million ha in 1996, and the cropping area increased rapidly to reach about 134 million ha in 2009. Indonesia is known as a country rich in PGR, that have very high value. One of environmentally friendly technologies that can be applied in the utilization of PGR in Indonesia, is genetic engineering. In Indonesia, research on plant genetic engineering had started since 1997. Commodities that are being researched to develop GE plants limited on rice, potatoes and tomatoes. GE rice resistant to stem borer (Scirpophaga incertulas), GE potato resistant to late blight (Phytophthora infestans), and GE tomato resistant to tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) have been successfully developed by Research Center for Biotechnology of Indonesian Institute of Science and Indonesian Center for Agricultural Biotechnology and Genetic Resources Research and Development (ICABIOGRAD). Those GE crops have been tested for their resistance at the screenhouses, green houses of the biosafety containment, and confined field trial.