Current Technologies In Plant Molecular Breeding

Recent progress in biotechnology and genomics has expanded the plant breeders’ horizon providing a molecular platform on the traditional plant breeding, which is now known as ‘plant molecular breeding’. Although diverse technologies for molecular breeding have been developed and applied individually for plant genetic improvement, common use in routine breeding programs seems to be limited probably due to the complexity and incomplete understanding of the technologies. This book is intended to provide a guide for researchers or graduate students involved in plant molecular breeding by describing principles and application of recently developed technologies with actual case studies for practical use. The nine topics covered in this book include the basics on genetic analysis of agronomic traits, methods of detecting QTLs, the application of molecular markers, genomics-assisted breeding including epigenomic issues, and genome-wide association studies. Identification methods of mutagenized plants, actual case studies for the isolation and functional studies of genes, the basics of gene transfer in major crops and the procedures for commercialization of GM crops are also described. This book would be a valuable reference for plant molecular breeders and a cornerstone for the development of new technologies in plant molecular breeding for the future.

Recent advances in plant genomics and molecular biology have revolutionized our understanding of plant genetics, providing new opportunities for more efficient and controllable plant breeding. Successful techniques require a solid understanding of the underlying molecular biology as well as experience in applied plant breeding. Bridging the gap between developments in biotechnology and its applications in plant improvement, Molecular Plant Breeding provides an integrative overview of issues from basic theories to their applications to crop improvement including molecular marker technology, gene mapping, genetic transformation, quantitative genetics, and breeding methodology.

The last few years have seen an explosion of new information andresources in the areas of plant molecular genetics and genomics. Asa result of developments such as high throughput sequencing, we nowhave huge amounts of information available on plant genes. But howdoes this help people charged with the task of improving cropspecies to create products with altered functions or improvedcharacteristics? This volume considers ways in which the new information,resources and technology can be exploited by the plant breeder.Examples in current use will be quoted wherever possible.

The basic concept of this book is to examine the use of innovative methods augmenting traditional plant breeding towards the development of new crop varieties under different environmental conditions to achieve sustainable food production. This book consists of two volumes: Volume 1 subtitled Breeding, Biotechnology and Molecular Tools and Volume 2 subtitled Agronomic, Abiotic and Biotic Stress Traits. This is Volume 1 which consists of 21 chapters covering domestication and germplasm utilization, conventional breeding techniques and the role of biotechnology. In addition to various biotechnological applications in plant breeding, it includes functional genomics, mutations and methods of detection, and molecular markers. In vitro techniques and their applications in plant breeding are discussed with an emphasis on embryo rescue, somatic cell hybridization and somaclonal variation. Other chapters cover haploid breeding, transgenics, cryogenics and bioinformatics.

The development of new plant varieties is a long and tedious process involving the generation of large seedling populations for the selection of the best individuals. While the ability of breeders to generate large populations is almost unlimited, the selection of these seedlings is the main factor limiting the generation of new cultivars. Molecular studies for the development of marker-assisted selection (MAS) strategies are particularly useful when the evaluation of the character is expensive, time-consuming, or with long juvenile periods. The papers published in the Special Issue “Plant Genetics and Molecular Breeding” report highly novel results and testable new models for the integrative analysis of genetic (phenotyping and transmission of agronomic characters), physiology (flowering, ripening, organ development), genomic (DNA regions responsible for the different agronomic characters), transcriptomic (gene expression analysis of the characters), proteomic (proteins and enzymes involved in the expression of the characters), metabolomic (secondary metabolites), and epigenetic (DNA methylation and histone modifications) approaches for the development of new MAS strategies. These molecular approaches together with an increasingly accurate phenotyping will facilitate the breeding of new climate-resilient varieties resistant to abiotic and biotic stress, with suitable productivity and quality, to extend the adaptation and viability of the current varieties.

The discipline of plant breeding has undergone transformation due to the assimilation of the rapid developments in molecular biology. The existing books on plant breeding deal mainly with the classical approaches, while specialized books on molecular approaches usually lack discussion of the classical methods. The book Molecular Plant Breeding attempts to present the complete picture of plant breeding ranging from the classical to the molecular approaches applied to crop improvement. The book is divided into four sections: Classical Plant Breeding, Transgenic technology, Molecular Markers, and Miscellaneous. The first section deals with the classical plant breeding and is divided into eight chapters. The second section has four chapters and describes transgenic technology. The third section discusses various aspects of molecular markers and is spread over three chapters. The final section has a single chapter dealing with variety release, seed multiplication and intellectual property rights. This book is designed primarily for graduate students, viz., B.Sc. agriculture and B.Sc. science students with botany as one of the subjects, who would get their first exposure to plant breeding. It would also be useful for the post-graduate students, especially in botany, and to teachers of the subject. The book is written in simple and easy to understand language. Illustrations and photographs have been provided wherever they were expected to facilitate comprehension of the subject under discussion.

Plant Breeding - Current and Future Views provides scientific views from leading international scientists on the latest advances in plant breeding, in particular new crop development, breeding for stressful conditions, new tools in plant molecular breeding, and crop biotechnology. The chapters present new updates in the field of plant breeding, covering the scientific efforts and solutions of the world's plant science research community in the era of technological advance and global climate change.

Marker-assisted plant breeding involves the application of molecular marker techniques and statistical and bioinformatics tools to achieve plant breeding objectives in a cost-effective and time-efficient manner. This book is intended for beginners in the field who have little or no prior exposure to molecular markers and their applications, but who do have a basic knowledge of genetics and plant breeding, and some exposure to molecular biology. An attempt has been made to provide sufficient basic information in an easy-to-follow format, and also to discuss current issues and developments so as to offer comprehensive coverage of the subject matter. The book will also be useful for breeders and research workers, as it offers a broad range of up-to-the-year information, including aspects like the development of different molecular markers and their various applications. In the first chapter, the field of marker-assisted plant breeding is introduced and placed in the proper perspective in relation to plant breeding. The next three chapters describe the various molecular marker systems, while mapping populations and mapping procedures including high-throughput genotyping are discussed in the subsequent five chapters. Four chapters are devoted to various applications of markers, e.g. marker-assisted selection, genomic selection, diversity analysis, finger printing and positional cloning. In closing, the last two chapters provide information on relevant bioinformatics tools and the rapidly evolving field of phenomics.

Over the years, the interventions of genomics tools have paved the way for molecular breeding to meet the challenges of food security and climate resilience. Advances in plant molecular breeding encompassing approaches of genomics, molecular markers, genetic transformation and genome editing have revolutionized crop improvement. Successful application of these tools has led to improvement of a wide range of traits of agronomic relevance. This book provides a comprehensive coverage of successful applications of molecular approaches that can be integrated within plant breeding programs aimed at improvement of crop plants. The book covers all relevant areas of molecular breeding applications in plants, with many examples drawn from the advanced genomics and molecular breeding research. Chapters present a critical appraisal of the current literature in the respective fields of molecular breeding written by expert authors. Each chapter provides in-depth discussion of the subject supported with high-quality color illustrations relevant data and future research perspective and, a comprehensive list of pertinent references.

Plant breeders have used mutagenic agents to create variability for their use in crop improvement. However, application of mutagenic agents has its own drawbacks, such as non-specificity and random nature, simultaneous effect on large numbers of genes, and induction of chromosomal aberrations. To overcome these limitations, several genome editing systems have been developed with the aid of cutting-edge technology rooted in the expertise of several research fields. Molecular Plant Breeding and Genome Editing Tools for Crop Improvement is a pivotal reference source that provides an interdisciplinary approach to crop breeding through genetics. Featuring coverage of a broad range of topics including software, molecular markers, and plant variety identification, this book is ideally designed for agriculturalists, biologists, engineers, advocates, policymakers, researchers, academicians, and students.