Advanced Genetic Technology Application towards the Improvement of Agricultural and Food Product Quality

A special issue of Agronomy (ISSN 2073-4395). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Breeding and Genetics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2019) | Viewed by 14201

Special Issue Editor

1. Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
2. ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
Interests: genomics; transcriptomics; plant adaptation; wild crop relatives; output traits
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Global nutritional security requires that we do more than produce the required quantity of food, and demands that we also ensure that food products meet the needs of human consumers and delivers nutrition that supports healthy human populations. Consumers are increasingly discriminating, showing preferences for foods that are attractive to eat, convenient to prepare, have nutritional values contributing to health, sustainably produced with minimal environmental impact and are ethically produced. Advances in genetic technology are enabling new approaches to the improvement of agricultural and food products. Functional properties and nutritional value may be retained more effectively in plant breeding or enhanced in novel ways. Rapid advances in DNA sequencing technology have delivered high quality genome sequences for crop plants. This has contributed to significant advances in knowledge of the molecular basis of food and agricultural product quality. This new knowledge base supports breeding selection for quality using molecular tools and genetic manipulation of quality using advancing gene editing tools.

This Special Issue will feature reports of advances in understanding of quality traits, development of molecular tools for quality selection and manipulation and development of food products with novel quality traits. Importantly, efficient selection for quality may remove this constraint to genetic gain in crop yield.


Prof. Robert Henry
Guest Editor

Keywords

  • quality
  • nutritional value
  • consumer traits
  • food quality
  • genomics
  • gene editing

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 818 KiB  
Article
Line × Tester Analysis for Morphological and Fruit Biochemical Traits in Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Using Wild Relatives as Testers
by Prashant Kaushik
Agronomy 2019, 9(4), 185; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9040185 - 11 Apr 2019
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 6359
Abstract
Wild relatives of eggplant are commonly exploited for eggplant improvement, but the genetic improvement relies on the information of the genetic basis of inheritance of traits. In this study, two eggplant lines, one with oriental and another with occidental cytoplasm, were crossed with [...] Read more.
Wild relatives of eggplant are commonly exploited for eggplant improvement, but the genetic improvement relies on the information of the genetic basis of inheritance of traits. In this study, two eggplant lines, one with oriental and another with occidental cytoplasm, were crossed with four testers representing three wild species, namely, Solanum insanum, S.anguivi, and S. lichtensteinii. The Line × Tester cross produced a total of eight interspecific hybrids. Parents and their hybrids were evaluated for 3 biochemical, 12 morphological, and 8 Tomato Analyzer-based descriptors. A significant amount of variation was noticed for all 23 traits studied. The higher values for the specific combining ability (SCA) component were determined as compared to the general combining ability (GCA) component. The testers were more significant for most of the traits than the cultivated varieties. Positive heterosis was determined for the 12 characteristics and negative heterosis for the 11 attributes. Overall, S.anguivi, and S. lichtensteinii were better for the biochemical traits’ improvement, whereas S. insanum was a better tester for the morphological traits. Full article
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10 pages, 605 KiB  
Article
Assessment of Heterosis Based on Genetic Distance Estimated Using SNP in Common Wheat
by Yingbin Nie, Wanquan Ji and Songmei Ma
Agronomy 2019, 9(2), 66; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9020066 - 01 Feb 2019
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 3506
Abstract
This study assessed the genetic distance (GD) between parental genotypes using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) DNA markers and evaluated the correlation between GD and heterosis in common wheat. We examined the performance of parents and hybrids in a field experiment conducted in a [...] Read more.
This study assessed the genetic distance (GD) between parental genotypes using single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) DNA markers and evaluated the correlation between GD and heterosis in common wheat. We examined the performance of parents and hybrids in a field experiment conducted in a randomized block design at a Shihezi location with three replications. Different traits such as the height of the parents and the F1 generation, number of harvested ears, number of grains per panicle, grain weight per panicle, 1000-grain weight, and grain yield were examined. Genotyping using a wheat 90K SNP chip determined the GD between the parents and analyzed the relationship between GD and heterotic performance of hybrids in wheat. Cluster analysis based on GD estimated using SNP chips divided the 20 elite parents into five groups which were almost consistent with the parental pedigree. Correlation analysis showed a significant association between GD and mid-parent heterosis (MPH) of 1000-grain weight. However, GD and high-parent heterosis (HPH) of 1000-grain weight showed no significant correlation. There was a weak correlation between GD and with spikelet number, harvested spikes, and yield at MPH or HPH. Hence, SNP analysis may be utilized in allocating wheat parents to heterotic groups. However, the correlation between SNP-based GD and hybrid performance still remains unclear. Full article
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15 pages, 6968 KiB  
Article
Characterization of Chromosomal Rearrangement in New Wheat—Thinopyrum intermedium Addition Lines Carrying Thinopyrum—Specific Grain Hardness Genes
by Zhihui Yu, Hongjin Wang, Yunfang Xu, Yongshang Li, Tao Lang, Zujun Yang and Guangrong Li
Agronomy 2019, 9(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy9010018 - 03 Jan 2019
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 3909
Abstract
The wild species, Thinopyrum intermedium. (Genome StStJSJSJJ), serves as a valuable germplasm resource providing novel genes for wheat improvement. In the current study, non-denaturing fluorescence in situ hybridization (ND-FISH) with multiple probes and comparative molecular markers were applied to [...] Read more.
The wild species, Thinopyrum intermedium. (Genome StStJSJSJJ), serves as a valuable germplasm resource providing novel genes for wheat improvement. In the current study, non-denaturing fluorescence in situ hybridization (ND-FISH) with multiple probes and comparative molecular markers were applied to characterize two wheat-Th. intermedium chromosome additions. Sequential ND-FISH with new labeled Th. intermedium specific oligo-probes were used to precisely determine the chromosomal constitution of Th. intermedium, wheat—Th. intermedium partial amphiploids and addition lines Hy36 and Hy37. The ND-FISH results showed that the added JS-St translocated chromosomes in Hy36 had minor Oligo-5S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) signals at the short arm, while a pair of J-St chromosomes in Hy37 had major Oligo-pTa71 and minor Oligo-5S rDNA signals. The 90K SNP array and PCR-based molecular markers that mapped on wheat linkage group 5 and 3 facilitated the identification of Thinopyrum chromosome introgressions in the addition lines, and confirmed that added chromosomes in Hy36 and Hy37 were 5JSS.3StS and 5JS.3StS, respectively. Complete coding sequences at the paralogous puroindoline-a (Pina) loci from Th. intermedium were cloned and localized on the short arm of chromosome 5JS of Hy36. Line Hy36 showed a reduction in the hardness index, which suggested that Th. intermedium-specific Pina gene sequences may be associated with the softness trait in wheat background. The molecular cytogenetic identification of novel wheat—Th. intermedium derivatives indicated that the frequent chromosome rearrangement occurred in the progenies of wheat-Thinopyrum hybridization. The new wheat-Thinopyrum derived lines may increase the genetic diversity for wheat breeding. Full article
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