John Innes Centre, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, United Kingdom.
School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Elife. 2020 Mar 24;9:e55646. doi: 10.7554/eLife.55646.
Understanding the function of genes within staple crops will accelerate crop improvement by allowing targeted breeding approaches. Despite their importance, a lack of genomic information and resources has hindered the functional characterisation of genes in major crops. The recent release of high-quality reference sequences for these crops underpins a suite of genetic and genomic resources that support basic research and breeding. For wheat, these include gene model annotations, expression atlases and gene networks that provide information about putative function. Sequenced mutant populations, improved transformation protocols and structured natural populations provide rapid methods to study gene function directly. We highlight a case study exemplifying how to integrate these resources. This review provides a helpful guide for plant scientists, especially those expanding into crop research, to capitalise on the discoveries made in and other plants. This will accelerate the improvement of crops of vital importance for food and nutrition security.
了解主要作物中基因的功能将通过靶向育种方法加速作物改良。尽管它们很重要，但缺乏基因组信息和资源阻碍了主要作物中基因的功能特征分析。最近，这些作物的高质量参考序列的发布为支持基础研究和育种的一系列遗传和基因组资源奠定了基础。对于小麦来说，这些资源包括基因模型注释、表达图谱和基因网络，提供了关于假定功能的信息。测序突变体群体、改进的转化方案和结构化的自然群体为直接研究基因功能提供了快速方法。我们强调了一个案例研究，说明了如何整合这些资源。本综述为植物科学家，特别是那些扩展到作物研究的科学家，提供了一个有用的指南，以充分利用 和其他植物中取得的发现。这将加速对粮食和营养安全至关重要的作物的改良。
