Abstract

Plant genetic resources are source genetic material for conducting research and breeding. The use of this material is subject to international and national regulations on access and benefit-sharing (ABS). With modern genetic technologies generating desired trait and gene function improvement by replicating genetic signatures, ABS must adapt to the new technological reality. As the constituencies of international ABS conventions discuss if and how to extend the application of the conventions to digital sequence information (DSI) derived from source material, the genomics science community resists any incumbrance to continued free and unrestricted access to such information. Based on current ABS discussions and the likely future co-existence of diverse policy regimes, this paper proposes interoperability among data systems as an essential tool to implement legal solutions for benefit-sharing as well as advance science and innovation objectives. Two information technology tools are suggested for associating DSI to plant genetic resources and reciprocal citations with data exchange, namely digital object identifiers and digital genetic objects. This paper concludes that interoperability should be experimented with in both its technical and social dimensions, in order to support long-term alliances between policy and science through data archives, knowledge bases and live specimen collection resources.