Technologies in Plant Breeding

Question: Discuss about the Technologies in Plant Breeding. Answer: Introduction: This assignment aims to focus on The potential for the use of new technologies in plant breeding. It comprises of several breeding techniques, which are efficient in this field. For this assignment, the role of Cisgenesis and Intragenesis in crop improvement has been selected for highlighting the effective outcomes of this new technology in the field of plant breeding. The Role of Cisgenesis and Intragenesis in crop improvement The area under genetically modified or transgenic crops has been enhanced at a rapid rate. However, one of the major concerns of the public regarding transgenic crops is associated with the utilization of artificial combination of heritable elements that are derived from diverse organisms, which cannot be crossed naturally. Only the public can understand the complete potential of the genetically modified or transgenic crops with an improved acceptance. In addition, the expensive, hectic and prolonged procedures to obtain the approval of these crops along with the hazard for potential risks and the spreading of new genes in the other crops that are unrelated are the major shortcomings in the course of implementation of these techniques. Taking these drawbacks into consideration and for ensuring the crop improvement techniques that are eco-friendly in nature, the approaches of Cisgenesis and Intragenesis have been developed as substitutes to the process of transgenesis (Schaart et al., 2016). Cisgenesis and transgenesis involve the insertion of a fragment of DNA from the similar or cross compatible species into the genome of the plant. In cisgenesis, the gene, which is inserted, is unaltered, adjacent, and flanked by its own regulatory elements and introns. On the other hand, in intragenesis for the process of transformation, a novel combination of fragments of DNA, which has been artificially synthesized, is used. However, in the process of transgenesis, foreign DNA from some other species is used. Microbes may be utilized for this procedure. The similar gene pool is utilized by cisgenesis and intragenesis, which are available for conventional breeding (Espinoza et al., 2013). The procedure of cisgenesis involves the production of plants or crops that are genetically similar by using the fragment of the donor DNA either from a similar species or from a species, which is cross compatible. One of the best advantages of this procedure is that it introduces the desired gene only, therefore avoids linkage drag, which can result from the traditional cross breeding method and it can also lead to the elimination of time consuming and hectic backcrossing for recovering the recurrent genotype of the parent. Whereas, intragenesis is almost similar to the procedure of cisgenesis but they only have a difference in the fact that the creation of novel combinations of the fragments of DNA is allowed by intragenesis.The crops that can be cloned commercially such as apple, potato, grapevine, strawberry have been improved in terms of their quality through cis/intragenic approaches. The modification of these crops is carried out for improving their resistance towards disease, and enhancing their nutritional value and quality (Lusser et al., 2012) The drawbacks of these two methods are that the genes, which belong to a dissimilar gene pool and is not sexually compatible, cannot be introduced. Additionally, it takes more time for the generation of cis/intragenic plants or crops in comparison to the transgenic crops (Kamthan et al., 2016). To sum up, using these approaches in plant breeding has been helpful in obtaining better quality of crops and plants effectively. References Espinoza, C., Schlechter, R., Herrera, D., Torres, E., Serrano, A., Medina, C., Arce-Johnson, P. (2013). Cisgenesis and intragenesis: new tools for improving crops.Biological research,46(4), 323-331. Kamthan, A., Chaudhuri, A., Kamthan, M., Datta, A. (2016). Genetically modified (GM) crops: milestones and new advances in crop improvement.Theoretical and Applied Genetics,129(9), 1639-1655. Lusser, M., Parisi, C., Plan, D., Rodrguez-Cerezo, E. (2012). Deployment of new biotechnologies in plant breeding.Nature biotechnology,30(3), 231-239. Schaart, J. G., van de Wiel, C. C., Lotz, L. A., Smulders, M. J. (2016). Opportunities for products of new plant breeding techniques.Trends in plant science,21(5), 438-449.