Potential approaches to create ultimate genotypes in crops and livestock

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Genetics
• Animal Breeding

Background:

• Genomic selection utilizes extensive genotyped and phenotyped data from livestock and crop species.
• The concept of 'ultimate genotypes' involves in silico combination of favorable marker allele haplotypes.
• Current breeding methods to achieve ultimate genotypes are time-consuming, spanning multiple generations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore novel, accelerated strategies for rapidly achieving ultimate genotypes.
• To propose future pathways beyond conventional breeding for genetic improvement.

Main Methods:

• This study is a hypothetical thought piece, not involving experimental methods.
• It contemplates future technological advancements for rapid genetic gain.

Main Results:

• Ultimate genotypes demonstrate significantly enhanced performance, up to six times greater than current best individuals.
• Examples include improved net profit in dairy cattle, wheat yield, and chickpea 100-seed weight.

Conclusions:

• Conventional breeding is slow for assembling ultimate genotypes.
• Future pathways like accelerated recombination with gene editing, direct whole-genome haplotype editing, and synthetic biology offer rapid solutions.