Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources

Our lives and well being intimately depend on the exploitation of the plant genetic resources available to our breeding programs. Therefore, more extensive exploration and effective exploitation of plant genetic resources are essential prerequisites for the release of improved cultivars. Accordingly, the remarkable progress in genomics approaches and more recently in sequencing and bioinformatics offers unprecedented opportunities for mining germplasm collections, mapping and cloning loci of interest, identifying novel alleles and deploying them for breeding purposes. This book collects 48 highly interdisciplinary articles describing how genomics improves our capacity to characterize and harness natural and artificially induced variation in order to boost crop productivity and provide consumers with high-quality food. This book will be an invaluable reference for all those interested in managing, mining and harnessing the genetic richness of plant genetic resources.

The future of food security will increasingly rely on more extensive exploration and effective exploitation of plant genetic resources. The remarkable progress in plant genomics, sequencing and bioinformatics offers unprecedented opportunities for mining germplasm collections, mapping and cloning loci of interest, identifying novel alleles and deploying them for breeding purposes.

Genomics of Plant Genetic Resources presents a state-of-the-art collection of highly interdisciplinary articles describing how genomics improves our capacity to characterize and harness natural and artificially induced variation in order to boost crop productivity and provide consumers with high-quality food. In the past decade, the appreciation of the value of biodiversity has grown rapidly, mainly due to the increased awareness of the pivotal role that plant genetic resources plays for securing the supply of plant-derived products. Meeting the challenges posed by climate change and the needs of the burgeoning population will require a quantum leap in crop productivity, which will only be possible through the integration of genomics-based approaches with extant breeding programs. Additionally, the new selection paradigm ushered in by genomics-assisted breeding will facilitate allele mining in orphan crops and underutilized species, previously less accessible via conventional approaches. The unifying picture that emerges from this book unequivocally shows the pivotal role played by genomics in order to mine germplasm collections, elucidate gene function, identify superior alleles and, ultimately, release improved cultivars. For each of these objectives, the book presents a number of compelling case studies and examples.This unique and timely book is an invaluable reference for educators, researchers, crop specialists, breeders and decision makers interested in managing, mining and harnessing the genetic richness of plant genetic resources.