Global crop collections carry a wealth of native genes and alleles of immense potential value for farmers and consumers. Equally, within their DNA lies variation of negative value. The challenge is finding the diamonds in the rough – this is such a difficult task that the vast majority of collections remains underutilized and under-explored. As genotyping methods have evolved to generate larger densities of data for lower costs, comprehensive genotypic fingerprinting of collections is now within reach.

Phenotypic data (field, greenhouse and chemical analysis data), the stalwart of plant breeding, and counterpart data used to determine the value of genes for breeding is now more expensive and complex to obtain than genotypic data. In our study, we used climate data from the sites of origin of the maize collections studied – a cheap proxy for phenotypic data related to constraint such as acid soils and high temperatures. Applying innovative analyses to fingerprinting and climatic data we identified genes, genomic regions and maize of potential value for breeding. This approach highlights an opportunity to use genomics and climate data to re-explore crop collections, excluding large numbers of irrelevant materials and identifying the potential gems that will contribute to feeding and nourishing future generations.       

Sarah Hearne and HuiHui Li (International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center)

Read the full article here: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mec.15169