We aren't good at picking candidate genes, and it's slowing us down.

In order to gain a molecular understanding of the genetic basis for plant traits, we need to be able to identify the underlying gene and the causal allele for genetic loci. This process usually involves a step where a researcher selects likely candidate genes from a list. The process of picking candidate genes is inherently prone to distortion due to human bias, and this is slowing down our research enterprise.