Author(s):
With the worldwide human population growing rapidly, agricultural production must increase to satisfy crop demand. Improving crops through breeding may be a sustainable approach to extend yield and yield stability without intensifying the utilization of fertilizers and pesticides. Current advances in genomics and bioinformatics provide opportunities for accelerating crop improvement. The increase of third-generation sequencing technologies helps overcome challenges in plant genome assembly caused by polyploidy and frequent repetitive elements. Recent remarkable innovations in platforms for omics-based research and application development provide crucial resources to market research in model and applied plant species. A combinatorial approach using multiple omics platforms and integration of their outcomes is now an efficient strategy for clarifying molecular systems integral to improving plant productivity. Furthermore, crop databases that integrate the growing volume of genotype and phenotype data provide a valuable resource for breeders and a chance for data processing approaches to uncover novel trait-associated candidate genes. As knowledge of crop genetics expands, genomic selection and genome editing hold promise for breeding disease-resistant and stress-tolerant crops with high yields. Furthermore, the promotion of comparative genomics among model and applied plants allows us to understand the biological properties of every species and to accelerate gene discovery and functional analyses of genes. Bioinformatics platforms and their associated databases also are essential for the effective design of approaches making the simplest use of genomic resources, including resource integration. This paper reviews recent advances in research platforms and resources in plant omics alongside related databases and advances in technology.
