Figure 2. How do we make uniform fruit and vegetables? The genetics of crop plants and pets are not that different. In both cases, pure bred varieties have a genome with high homozygosity, which results in uniform progeny while F2 hybrids make progeny with variable characteristics.
Figure 2. How do we make uniform fruit and vegetables? The genetics of crop plants and pets are not that different. In both cases, pure bred varieties have a genome with high homozygosity, which results in uniform progeny while F2 hybrids make progeny with variable characteristics.

How Can We Breed Desirable Plants Faster?

  • by Victoria Stewart, Livingstone M. Nganga, Isabelle M. Henry, Luca Comai

In this article targeted for high school students, we learn about  the challenges of breeding new crop varieties and how haploid induction can help speed up this process. This article was published in the context of an NSF-PRGP award (PGRP IOS-2055260 “Mechanisms of haploid induction in potato”).

Abstract

We consume or interact with crops every day for food (tomatoes, lettuce, apples, rice…), for feeding animals (hay, corn), or for a wild variety of other uses (wood, cotton). All crops come from wild plants that do not look anything like the ones we buy at the store. That is because they have been selected to look and behave in a very specific way that fits the farmers, producers and consumers’ needs and expectations. The process of developing new varieties is called breeding. Breeding is a complicated and lengthy process. Climate and environmental conditions are changing even faster now.  Being able to breed new varieties that can survive and strive in these new conditions, or meet new needs is even more critical than before. Here, we explain why breeding takes so long, and we discuss recent scientific findings that might help speed-up the process. 

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