Abstract

Mutations with deleterious consequences in nature may be conditionally deleterious in crop plants. That is, while some genetic variants may reduce fitness under wild conditions and be subject to purifying selection, they can be under positive selection in domesticates. Such deleterious alleles can be plant breeding targets, particularly for complex traits. The difficulty of distinguishing favorable from unfavorable variants reduces the power of selection, while favorable trait variation and heterosis may be attributable to deleterious alleles. Here, we review the roles of deleterious mutations in crop breeding and discuss how they can be used as a new avenue for crop improvement with emerging genomic tools, including HapMaps and pangenome analysis, aiding the identification, removal, or exploitation of deleterious mutations.

Keywords

crop improvement; deleterious variants; genome editing; genomic prediction; HapMaps; mating system; propagation; selective sweeps; wild relatives

Published in

Trends in Plant Science
2023, Volume: 28, number: 6, pages: 685-697

SLU Authors

• Ortiz Rios, Rodomiro Octavio

  • Department of Plant Breeding, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

SDG2 End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture


UKÄ Subject classification

Genetics and Breeding
Plant Biotechnology
Agricultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tplants.2023.01.006

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/121216