Climate change is expected to have a drastic impact on agronomic conditions including temperature, precipitation, soil nutrients, and the incidence of disease pests, to name a few. To face this looming threat, significant progress in developing new breeding strategies has been made over the last few decades. The first volume of Genomics and Breeding for Climate-Resilient Crops presents the basic concepts and strategies for developing climate-resilient crop varieties. Topics covered include: conservation, evaluation and utilization of biodiversity; identification of traits, genes and crops of the future; genomic and molecular tools; genetic engineering; participatory and evolutionary breeding; bioinformatics tools to support breeding; funding and networking support; and intellectual property, regulatory issues, social and political dimensions. ​

Over the past decades, chromatin remodelling has emerged as an important regulator of gene expression and plant defense. This book provides a detailed understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms involved in plants of agronomic importance. The information presented here is significant because it is expected to provide the knowledge needed to develop in the future treatments to manipulate and selectively activate/inhibit proteins and metabolic pathways to counter pathogens, to treat important diseases and to increase crop productivity. New approaches of this kind and the development of new technologies will certainly increase our knowledge of currently known post-translational modifications and facilitate the understanding of their roles in, for example, host-pathogen interactions and crop productivity. Furthermore, we provide important insight on how the plant epigenome changes in response to developmental or environmental stimuli, how chromatin modifications are established and maintained, to which degree they are used throughout the genome, and how chromatin modifications influence each another.

Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection was based on the observation that there is variation between individuals within the same species. This fundamental observation is a central concept in evolutionary biology. However, variation is only rarely treated directly. It has remained peripheral to the study of mechanisms of evolutionary change. The explosion of knowledge in genetics, developmental biology, and the ongoing synthesis of evolutionary and developmental biology has made it possible for us to study the factors that limit, enhance, or structure variation at the level of an animals' physical appearance and behavior. Knowledge of the significance of variability is crucial to this emerging synthesis. Variation situates the role of variability within this broad framework, bringing variation back to the center of the evolutionary stage. - Provides an overview of current thinking on variation in evolutionary biology, functional morphology, and evolutionary developmental biology - Written by a team of leading scholars specializing on the study of variation - Reviews of statistical analysis of variation by leading authorities - Key chapters focus on the role of the study of phenotypic variation for evolutionary, developmental, and post-genomic biology

This book focuses on the previously neglected interface between the conservation of plant genetic resources and their utilization. Only through utilization can the potential value of conserved genetic resources be realized. However, as this book shows, much conserved germplasm has to be subjected to long-term pre-breeding and genetic enhancement before it can be used in plant breeding programs.The authors explore the rationale and approaches for such pre-breeding efforts as the basis for broadening the genetic bases of crop production. Examples from a range of major food crops are presented and issues analyzed by leading authorities from around the world.

This book presents the latest advances in rice genomics, genetics and breeding, with a special focus on their importance for rice biology and how they are breathing new life into traditional genetics. Rice is the main staple food for more than half of the world’s population. Accordingly, sustainable rice production is a crucial issue, particularly in Asia and Africa, where the population continues to grow at an alarming rate. The book’s respective chapters offer new and timely perspectives on the synergistic effects of genomics and genetics in novel rice breeding approaches, which can help address the urgent issue of providing enough food for a global population that is expected to reach 9 billion by 2050.

Bei vielen physiologischen und Entwicklungsprozessen sowie bei Stressreaktionen spielen Hormonsignale, die Pflanzen aussenden, eine große Rolle. Mit Aufkommen der neuen post-genomischen Molekulartechnologien sind auch unsere Möglichkeiten, die Wirkung von Hormonsignalen auf die Genexpression und adaptive Prozesse zu verstehen, heute einzigartig. Wenn wir die molekularen Grundlagen dieser Prozesse entschlüsseln, ergeben sich für die Entwicklung neuer Pflanzenbiotechnologien und verbesserter Varianten von Kulturpflanzen große Chancen. Die Themen dieses Buches legen den Schwerpunkt auf die Genomik und funktionale Aspekte der Genomik. Damit lassen sich globale Veränderungen und Veränderungen auf Ebene des gesamten Genoms unter spezifischen Stressbedingungen verstehen. Mit funktionalen Werkzeugen der Genomik kann der Mechanismus von Phytohormonsignalen in Verbindung mit den zugehörigen Zielgenen systematischer definiert werden. Die integrierte Analyse von Phytohormonsignalen bei einzelnen oder mehreren Stressbedingungen ist unter Umständen für die Entwicklung stresstoleranter Kulturpflanzen eine außergewöhnliche Möglichkeit. Mechanism of Plant Hormone Signaling Under Stress beschreibt die jüngsten Fortschritte und zeigt, wie heutige Erkenntnisse in der wissenschaftlichen Erforschung von Pflanzen und Kulturpflanzen Anwendung finden. Dieses Buch ist für Pflanzenbiologen, Biologen, die sich mit Stressfaktoren beschäftigen, Forscher im Bereich Pflanzenbiotechnologie, Studenten und Dozenten überaus nützlich.