Molecular Breeding and Genomics

Molecular breeding is the use of genetic manipulation at the DNA molecular level to improve traits of interest in plants and to shorten the time for developing new crop varieties to be brought to the market. In traditional plant breeding, genetic variation and characterization are usually identified by visual selection of morphological traits. However, with the development of molecular biology, the problems related to environmental factors and, in some cases, the slow development process, might be solved by the use of molecular markers. 'DNA marker' is a term used to refer to a specific DNA variation between individuals that has been found to be associated with a certain characteristic. These different DNA or genetic variants are known as alleles. Thus, the use of DNA markers to define the genotype and predict the performance of a plant is a powerful aid to plant breeding. Molecular breeding implies molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS), which is a strategy to facilitate the exploitation of existing genetic diversity in breeding populations and therefore, in combination with linkage maps and genomics, can be used to improve a whole range of desirable traits.