Raiding wild species gene banks for crop improvement
Research report (imported) 2012 - Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology
Summary
Naturally occurring variation in wild species can be used to enhance the genetic diversity of cultivated crops and improve agronomic value. Understanding metabolic pathways and the interactions between genes, phenotype and environment is fundamental to influence crop quality. Metabolic profiling is a rapidly expanding technology for the evaluation of natural variance of metabolite content when carried out alongside nutritional and taste studies and represents a powerful approach for delineating the genetic determinants of plant chemical composition.