Modern Approaches for the Genetic Improvement of Rice, Wheat and Maize for Abiotic Constraints-Related Traits: A Comparative Overview
Department of Biotechnology-Plant Biology, School of Agricultural, Food and Biosystems Engineering, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, 28040 Madrid, Spain
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Academic Editor: Søren Kjærsgaard Rasmussen
Agronomy 2021, 11(2), 376; https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020376
Received: 30 December 2020
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Revised: 12 February 2021
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Accepted: 13 February 2021
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Published: 20 February 2021
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular Genetics, Genomics and Biotechnology of Crop Plants Breeding - Series Ⅱ)
After a basic description of the different sets of genetic tools and genomic approaches most relevant for modern crop breeding (e. g., QTL mapping, GWAS and genomic selection; transcriptomics, qPCR and RNA-seq; transgenesis and gene editing), this review paper describes their history and the main achievements in rice, wheat and maize research, with a further focus on crop traits related to the improvement of plant responses to face major abiotic constrains, including nutritional limitations, drought and heat tolerance, and nitrogen-use efficiency (NUE). Remarkable differences have been evidenced regarding the timing and degree of development of some genetic approaches among these major crops. The underlying reasons related to their distinct genome complexity, are also considered. Based on bibliographic records, drought tolerance and related topics (i.e., water-use efficiency) are by far the most abundantly addressed by molecular tools among the breeding objectives considered. Heat tolerance is usually more relevant than NUE in rice and wheat, while the opposite is true for maize.
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Keywords:
genetic tools; genomics; crops; drought tolerance; heat tolerance; nitrogen-use efficiency; bibliometrics
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MDPI and ACS Style
Benavente, E.; Giménez, E. Modern Approaches for the Genetic Improvement of Rice, Wheat and Maize for Abiotic Constraints-Related Traits: A Comparative Overview. Agronomy 2021, 11, 376. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020376
AMA Style
Benavente E, Giménez E. Modern Approaches for the Genetic Improvement of Rice, Wheat and Maize for Abiotic Constraints-Related Traits: A Comparative Overview. Agronomy. 2021; 11(2):376. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020376
Chicago/Turabian StyleBenavente, Elena, and Estela Giménez. 2021. "Modern Approaches for the Genetic Improvement of Rice, Wheat and Maize for Abiotic Constraints-Related Traits: A Comparative Overview" Agronomy 11, no. 2: 376. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy11020376
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