The FAO e-mail conference entitled "Molecular marker assisted selection as a potential tool for genetic improvement of crops, forest trees, livestock and fish in developing countries" began on 17 November and finished on 14 December 2003. Roughly 630 people registered for this moderated conference, and a total of 85 messages were posted, providing excellent considerations on issues such as economic comparisons of marker assisted selection (MAS) and conventional breeding, the appropriateness of applying MAS in developing countries, the role of research collaborations between developing and developed countries and the factors that can enable successful use of MAS in developing countries. Messages came from participants in 26 different countries, with highest numbers coming from people in India, Australia, United States, United Kingdom and Peru. 59% of messages came from people living in developing countries. The messages are available at http://www.fao.org/biotech/logs/c10logs.htm or can be requested as a single e-mail (size 128 KB) from [email protected].

04/12/2003