Translational Research for Climate Resilient, Higher Yielding Crops

Matthew Reynolds ,Andrew Borrell ,Jeff Gwyn ,David R Jordan ,K.v Pixley ,G.o Edmeades ,R B Flavell ,Hans J Braun ,G J Rebetzke

doi:10.20900/cbgg20190016

Abstract

Investment in scientific research is generally asymmetrical: it depends on precedents, current trends in science and technology, and economic, political and social agendas. However, asymmetry occasionally leads to bottlenecks that limit delivery of valuable technologies. This review considers the case of translating plant research to crop genetic improvement. Considerable progress has been made in basic plant science in recent decades fueled largely by the revolution in genetics. Meanwhile, human population has continued to grow exponentially, the natural resource base upon which agriculture depends has diminished significantly, and the climate is becoming less conducive to agriculture in general, especially in already food insecure regions. However, although basic research has delivered promising outputs using model crop species, relatively few new ideas have been tested in a mainstream breeding context. Past successful translational research projects—including enhancing the vitamin A content of maize, increasing the ability of rice to tolerate flooding, approaches for improving the yield potential of spring wheat, and traits for increasing the climate resilience of maize and sorghum—required interdisciplinary and often international collaboration to deliver adequate proofs of concept. They were also driven by a visionary approach and the necessary time commitment from the research institutions and funding bodies involved. These attributes are prerequisite for capitalizing on basic plant research and harnessing it to food security.

Highlights

In science, an idea remains a hypothesis until proven
There are seven main research steps involved in translating promising technologies into genetic gain: (a) Crop Design—Establishing the Hypothesis: The new “idea” must be complementary to a package of prerequisite traits and screens associated with a given target environment; (b) Genetic Resources: novel genetic variation can be explored among genebank accessions, when candidate traits/alleles are identified, and can profit from new screening tools; (c) Phenotyping: high throughput phenotyping is prerequisite for evaluating large germplasm collections and breeding generations, while precision phenotyping can identify variation for a wider range of traits among candidate parents; (d) Genetic Analysis: knowing the genetic basis of traits helps refine strategic crossing and can lead to marker assisted selection
Genotype by environment interactions can be estimated by spanning the relevant extremes expected in the target population of environments

Summary

Introduction

An idea remains a hypothesis until proven. in the area of crop genetic improvement, many ideas are projected from academia as solutions to challenging productivity problems, without demonstrating all the steps necessary to achieve the required genetic gains, with that task left to breeders. There are seven main research steps involved in translating promising technologies into genetic gain: (a) Crop Design—Establishing the Hypothesis: The new “idea” (trait/allele/methodology) must be complementary to a package of prerequisite traits and screens associated with a given target environment; (b) Genetic Resources: novel genetic variation can be explored among genebank accessions, when candidate traits/alleles are identified, and can profit from new screening tools; (c) Phenotyping: high throughput phenotyping is prerequisite for evaluating large germplasm collections and breeding generations, while precision phenotyping can identify variation for a wider range of traits among candidate parents; (d) Genetic Analysis: knowing the genetic basis of traits helps refine strategic crossing and can lead to marker assisted selection.

Results

Conclusion