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The availability of multiple sequenced genomes from a single species made it possible to explore intra- and inter-specific genomic comparisons at higher resolution and build clade-specific pan-genomes of several crops. The pan-genomes of crops constructed from various cultivars, accessions, landraces, and wild ancestral species represent a compendium of genes and structural variations and allow researchers to search for the novel genes and alleles that were inadvertently lost in domesticated crops during the historical process of crop domestication or in the process of extensive plant breeding. Fortunately, many valuable genes and alleles associated with desirable traits like disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, plant architecture, and nutrition qualities exist in landraces, ancestral species, and crop wild relatives. The novel genes from the wild ancestors and landraces can be introduced back to high-yielding varieties of modern crops by implementing classical plant breeding, genomic selection, and transgenic/gene editing approaches. Thus, pan-genomic represents a great leap in plant research and offers new avenues for targeted breeding to mitigate the impact of global climate change. Here, we summarize the tools used for pan-genome assembly and annotations, web-portals hosting plant pan-genomes, etc. Furthermore, we highlight a few discoveries made in crops using the pan-genomic approach and future potential of this emerging field of study.
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Creating New Types of Plants—The Art of Plant Breeding
We eat or interact with crops every day for food (tomatoes, lettuce, apples, rice, etc.), for feeding animals (hay, corn), or for a wide variety of other uses (wood, cotton). All crops come from wild plants that do not look anything like the ones we buy at the store. That is because they have been selected to look and behave in very specific ways that fit the needs of farmers, sellers, and us—the consumers. The process of developing new varieties is called breeding. Plant breeding is a complicated and lengthy process. Why do we need to breed plants? Because climate and environmental conditions are changing quickly and breeding new varieties that can survive in these new conditions or meet new needs is even more critical than before. In this article, we explain why breeding takes so long, and we discuss recent scientific findings that might help speed up the process.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1956429
- PAR ID:
- 10578765
- Publisher / Repository:
- Frontiers
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Frontiers for Young Minds
- Volume:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2296-6846
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.3389/frym.2024.1307600
