Molecular breeding

About: Molecular breeding is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2120 publications have been published within this topic receiving 56908 citations.

An overview of wheat genome sequencing and its implications for crop improvement

Abstract: Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) serves as the staple food for 30% of the global population and is a rich source of proteins, minerals and other essential nutrients. But global warming is posing a serious threat to wheat productivity worldwide, and of note, wheat is extremely sensitive to heat, where ±2◦C temperature variation has resulted in 50% decrease in wheat production (Asseng et al. 2011). Rise in greenhouse gases inflicts a steady increase in global temperature which has been projected to rise up to 4.5◦C by 2080 (IPCC 2012; http://www.ipcc.ch/). This is expected to impose enormous negative impacts on productivity of wheat and substantial risks to global food production and security. This urged the scientific research community to work towards genetic improvement of wheat, so as to impart durable stress resistance and agronomic traits in this major cereal. Efforts have been invested on transgene-based approaches and molecular breeding programmes for improvement of wheat since times, but the progress is hindered due to the nonavailability of genome sequence information. Genome sequences are imperative for understanding the molecular basis of phenotypic traits and variation of a given crop plant. Though the genome sequence of model plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana and rice has revolutionized the understanding of plant biology over a decade, it has not been translated robustly into crop improvement for major cereals including wheat. Concurrently, less genomic conservation between rice and wheat has also restricted comparative genomic studies for genetic enhancement of wheat. This necessitated the sequencing of wheat genome, which would serve as the foundation for its improvement. Unfortunately, the size and complexity of wheat genome hindered the sequencing efforts, and this resulted in wheat becoming the only major crop whose genome remained unsequenced. With the advancements in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies and high-throughput sequence analysis platforms,

Fab Advances in Fabaceae for Abiotic Stress Resilience: From 'Omics' to Artificial Intelligence.

Abstract: Legumes are a better source of proteins and are richer in diverse micronutrients over the nutritional profile of widely consumed cereals. However, when exposed to a diverse range of abiotic stresses, their overall productivity and quality are hugely impacted. Our limited understanding of genetic determinants and novel variants associated with the abiotic stress response in food legume crops restricts its amelioration. Therefore, it is imperative to understand different molecular approaches in food legume crops that can be utilized in crop improvement programs to minimize the economic loss. 'Omics'-based molecular breeding provides better opportunities over conventional breeding for diversifying the natural germplasm together with improving yield and quality parameters. Due to molecular advancements, the technique is now equipped with novel 'omics' approaches such as ionomics, epigenomics, fluxomics, RNomics, glycomics, glycoproteomics, phosphoproteomics, lipidomics, regulomics, and secretomics. Pan-omics-which utilizes the molecular bases of the stress response to identify genes (genomics), mRNAs (transcriptomics), proteins (proteomics), and biomolecules (metabolomics) associated with stress regulation-has been widely used for abiotic stress amelioration in food legume crops. Integration of pan-omics with novel omics approaches will fast-track legume breeding programs. Moreover, artificial intelligence (AI)-based algorithms can be utilized for simulating crop yield under changing environments, which can help in predicting the genetic gain beforehand. Application of machine learning (ML) in quantitative trait loci (QTL) mining will further help in determining the genetic determinants of abiotic stress tolerance in pulses.

Cytogenetics in Genetics and Plant Breeding

Abstract: In most of its stages, plant breeding makes use of auxiliary scientific disciplines. One of these disciplines. One of these disciplines is genetics, with its subdisciplines quantitative genetics, population genetics, cytogenetics, molecular genetics, etc. To understand the role of cytogenetics in plant breeding, it is useful to first give a brief review of the segment of genetics it covers, and what it is considered to include.

Foreword: Gametic cells and molecular breeding for crop improvement

Abstract: The first major international discussion on ‘Utilization of haploidy in plant breeding’ took place at the First International Symposium on Haploids in Higher Plants in 1974, Guelph, Canada (Kasha, 1974). At that time, despite the hype around haploid research, there were few examples of practical uses and only one report of a doubled haploid cultivar, Maris Haplona of rapeseed (Thompson, 1969). With this in mind Sir Ralph ended his opening address of the symposium with the following statement: I believe that it is quite likely that haploid research will contribute cultivars to agriculture in several crops in the future. However, the more extreme claims of the enthusiasts for haploid breeding must be treated with proper caution. Plant breeding is subject from time to time to sweeping claims from enthusiastic proponents of new procedures. Mention may be made of induced mutations and induced polyploids. The new techniques usually put an additional weapon in the armoury of the breeder but they rarely provide the total defence initially sug