A molecular cytogenetic perspective on chromosome biology and crop improvement

The age of molecular cytogenetic analysis of crop plants dawned in the late 1960s and early 1970s with new advances in the identification of somatic chromosomes by C-banding and fluorescence in situ hybridization concurrent with advances in DNA cloning, sequencing, and mapping. In this perspective article dedicated to Ronald Phillips, I review the contributions of molecular cytogenetic research to chromosome biology and crop improvement. I argue that molecular cytogenetics and wide hybridization (intergeneric and interspecific hybridization followed by introgressive breeding) will continue to play a key role in developing climate-resilient crop germplasm. However, this will happen only if the lack of investment and retrenchment of faculty engaged in molecular cytogenetics is reversed across US land-grant universities.