Fast-forward breeding for a food-secure world

Rajeev K Varshney; Abhishek Bohra; Manish Roorkiwal; Rutwik Barmukh; Wallace A Cowling; Annapurna Chitikineni; Hon-Ming Lam; Lee T Hickey; Janine S Croser; Philipp E Bayer; David Edwards; José Crossa; Wolfram Weckwerth; Harvey Millar; Arvind Kumar; Michael W Bevan; Kadambot H M Siddique

doi:10.1016/j.tig.2021.08.002

Fast-forward breeding for a food-secure world

Trends Genet. 2021 Dec;37(12):1124-1136. doi: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.08.002. Epub 2021 Sep 14.

Authors

Rajeev K Varshney¹, Abhishek Bohra², Manish Roorkiwal³, Rutwik Barmukh⁴, Wallace A Cowling⁵, Annapurna Chitikineni⁴, Hon-Ming Lam⁶, Lee T Hickey⁷, Janine S Croser⁵, Philipp E Bayer⁸, David Edwards⁸, José Crossa⁹, Wolfram Weckwerth¹⁰, Harvey Millar¹¹, Arvind Kumar¹², Michael W Bevan¹³, Kadambot H M Siddique⁵

Affiliations

¹ Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, India; State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre, Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, Food Futures Institute, Murdoch University, Murdoch WA 6150, Western Australia, Australia; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia. Electronic address: r.k.varshney@cgiar.org.
² ICAR-Indian Institute of Pulses Research (IIPR), Kanpur, India.
³ Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, India; The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
⁴ Centre of Excellence in Genomics and Systems Biology, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, India.
⁵ The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
⁶ School of Life Sciences and Center for Soybean Research of the State Key Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China.
⁷ Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, QLD, Australia.
⁸ The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
⁹ International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), Texcoco, Mexico.
¹⁰ Department of Ecogenomics and Systems Biology, Vienna Metabolomics Center (VIME), University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
¹¹ The UWA Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia; ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, Australia.
¹² Deputy Director General's Office, International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Hyderabad 502324, India.
¹³ John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, UK.

PMID: 34531040
DOI: 10.1016/j.tig.2021.08.002

Abstract

Crop production systems need to expand their outputs sustainably to feed a burgeoning human population. Advances in genome sequencing technologies combined with efficient trait mapping procedures accelerate the availability of beneficial alleles for breeding and research. Enhanced interoperability between different omics and phenotyping platforms, leveraged by evolving machine learning tools, will help provide mechanistic explanations for complex plant traits. Targeted and rapid assembly of beneficial alleles using optimized breeding strategies and precise genome editing techniques could deliver ideal crops for the future. Realizing desired productivity gains in the field is imperative for securing an adequate future food supply for 10 billion people.

Keywords: crop improvement; food security; genetic gain; genome editing; haplotype; speed breeding.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Crops, Agricultural / genetics
Gene Editing / methods
Genome, Plant* / genetics
Humans
Phenotype
Plant Breeding* / methods