About this Research Topic

Background

Plant breeding has used genetic variation created by mutations in breeding nurseries for plant improvements for decades. A broad range of traits have been modified, such as resistance to pathogens, flower colors of ornamentals, lignin content, and composition of harvest seeds. These desired traits have been obtained from spontaneous mutations or, more often, from induced mutations using a number of treatments such as chemical or radiation, transposable elements, or, very recently, physical treatments by spaceflight mutations. All these methods randomly target the plant genome. A major breakthrough came with the Nobel prize-winning, site-directed mutagenesis, CRISPR/Cas. Various oligo-nucleotide-directed mutations in the chromosomal DNA have been used as well. With all the advances in molecular genetic tools, it is timely to show how these can join forces with mutational breeding for the continuation of crop improvements for society.

This Research Topic aims to draw attention to the success of mutational breeding in crops, ornamentals, and vegetables. When combined with the newest methods in sequencing and marker-assisted selection, molecular and mutational breeding offer new possibilities for achieving plant improvements and creating diversity.

In this Research Topic, we invite articles that focus on mutational breeding as an integrated breeding tool to improve or introduce traits that will either help farmers in productivity or improve quality traits important in the value chain from field to feed, food, or fun. We welcome all article types published by Frontiers in Plant Science that contribute to (but are not limited to) the following topics:

• Mutational breeding of ornamentals and vegetables
• Mutational breeding of major crop plants like cereals, legumes, and oil crops
• Mutational breeding of neglected crop plants
• Use of site-directed mutagenesis
• Combining molecular and mutational breeding
• Quality traits
• Evaluation of mutation methods including resequencing

Keywords: mutagens, crispr-cas, radiation, spaceflight mutagenesis, ornamentals, vegetables, crop plants, induced mutagenesis, spontanious mutation, resequencing, somaclonal variation

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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