Climate change in recent years correlates with an increased biotic and abiotic stresses that affect crop performances. For example, there is an increase in drought, salinity and heavy metals contamination. It also goes beyond abiotic stress to include the emergence of new pathogenic races and corresponding vectors. Deployment of a strong genetic system and establishment of well-crafted and target oriented crop improvement programs are a must to manage and mitigate crop losses caused by biotic and abiotic stresses.
To support the long- and short-term goals of many crop improvement programs, allelic divergence and introduction of novel alleles are essential. Crop wild relatives are considerably important sources of novel allelic forms. Introgression of wild alleles in cultivated crops using interspecific hybridization has been seen as economical approach to inculcate primary gene pool with secondary and tertiary gene pool to facilitate the flow of genetic information. Interspecific hybridization however comes with several challenges including linkage drag. Recent evidence indicates that marker assisted breeding integrated with pre-breeding makes faster recovery of potential desirables allelic combinations from wild relatives. Other cutting-edge molecular, genomic, and breeding approaches including Double Haploids (DH)/Chromosome engineering can help to accelerate introgression of desirable alleles from wild relatives to its cultivated species.
In this Research Topic, we expect a discussion in the context of Climate Change that will inspire novel applications and integration of inter-disciplinary approaches for crop improvement including advanced biotechnological tools of gene discovery, gene editing (CRISPR-Cas), QTL cloning, and metabolomics engineering. We seek to provide a platform that will showcase the work of peer molecular geneticist, molecular stress physiologists, plant genetic resource researchers and plant breeders in developing climate resilient crops for the benefit of stakeholders across the food security value chain.
We invite submissions of all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science that contribute to the enhancement of allelic diversity of the primary gene pool using coalesced approaches including but not limited to:
1. Status and diversity of wild relatives and biological progenitors
2. Effective utilization of wild relatives using integrative approaches
3. Genomic approaches for gene discovery and transfer
4. Accelerated domestication of wild alleles using speed breeding approaches including double haploidy/Chromosome engineering
5. Other tools to facilitate allele mining
Climate change in recent years correlates with an increased biotic and abiotic stresses that affect crop performances. For example, there is an increase in drought, salinity and heavy metals contamination. It also goes beyond abiotic stress to include the emergence of new pathogenic races and corresponding vectors. Deployment of a strong genetic system and establishment of well-crafted and target oriented crop improvement programs are a must to manage and mitigate crop losses caused by biotic and abiotic stresses.
To support the long- and short-term goals of many crop improvement programs, allelic divergence and introduction of novel alleles are essential. Crop wild relatives are considerably important sources of novel allelic forms. Introgression of wild alleles in cultivated crops using interspecific hybridization has been seen as economical approach to inculcate primary gene pool with secondary and tertiary gene pool to facilitate the flow of genetic information. Interspecific hybridization however comes with several challenges including linkage drag. Recent evidence indicates that marker assisted breeding integrated with pre-breeding makes faster recovery of potential desirables allelic combinations from wild relatives. Other cutting-edge molecular, genomic, and breeding approaches including Double Haploids (DH)/Chromosome engineering can help to accelerate introgression of desirable alleles from wild relatives to its cultivated species.
In this Research Topic, we expect a discussion in the context of Climate Change that will inspire novel applications and integration of inter-disciplinary approaches for crop improvement including advanced biotechnological tools of gene discovery, gene editing (CRISPR-Cas), QTL cloning, and metabolomics engineering. We seek to provide a platform that will showcase the work of peer molecular geneticist, molecular stress physiologists, plant genetic resource researchers and plant breeders in developing climate resilient crops for the benefit of stakeholders across the food security value chain.
We invite submissions of all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science that contribute to the enhancement of allelic diversity of the primary gene pool using coalesced approaches including but not limited to:
1. Status and diversity of wild relatives and biological progenitors
2. Effective utilization of wild relatives using integrative approaches
3. Genomic approaches for gene discovery and transfer
4. Accelerated domestication of wild alleles using speed breeding approaches including double haploidy/Chromosome engineering
5. Other tools to facilitate allele mining
