Genes, Genomes and Germplasm for Climate-Smart Agriculture-Part-III

Crop cultivation has a long history in human civilization, with records showing the cultivation of cereal plants beginning at around 8000 BC. This early plant breeding was developed primarily to provide a steady supply of food.

Plant tissue culture is widely used in both primary and applied science. Applications range from plant development studies to functional gene studies, crop improvement, commercial micropropagation, virus elimination, and conservation of rare species.

Gene flow is the transfer of genes among populations, resulting from either the dispersal of gametes or from the migration of individuals.

Though evaporation from plant leaves drives transpiration, it also results in loss of water. Because water is critical for photosynthetic reactions and other cellular processes, evolutionary pressures on plants in different environments have driven the acquisition of adaptations that reduce water loss.

Recombinant DNA technology called transgenesis is often used to add a foreign gene or remove a detrimental gene from an organism. Such genetically modified organisms are called transgenic organisms.
The first-ever transgenic plant was a tobacco plant developed in 1983 that showed resistance against the tobacco mosaic virus. Since then, many transgenic plants have been developed and commercialized for improving the agricultural, ornamental, and horticultural value of a crop plant. Transgenic...

Genome-wide association studies or GWAS are used to identify whether common SNPs are associated with certain diseases. Suppose specific SNPs are more frequently observed in individuals with a particular disease than those without the disease. In that case, those SNPs are said to be associated with the disease. Chi-square analysis is performed to check the probability of the allele likely to be associated with the disease.
GWAS does not require the identification of the target gene involved in...