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Apomixis for Crop Improvement


Dr. T. Virender Jeet Singh, A. Ramakrishna, Dr. Y. Chandramohan, Dr. L. Krishna, Dr. N.R.G. Varma, Dr. Kiran Babu, K. Aravind
Pages: 83-102
ISBN: 978-93-5834-201-7


Current Innovations in Genetics and Plant Breeding (Volume -1)

Current Innovations in Genetics and Plant Breeding
(Volume - 1)

Abstract

One of the most important determinants in agricultural yield is seed. As a consequence, understanding the mechanisms underlying seed generation in cultivated plants is critical for the quantitative and qualitative advancement of agricultural output. In angiosperms, there are two types of seed reproduction: sexual or amphimictic and asexual or apomictic. The former is widely used by seed companies for breeding new varieties, whereas the latter is receiving increasing attention in basic research projects from both the scientific and industrial sectors. If apomixis is designed into sexual crops in a regulated manner, it will have a wide and significant influence on agriculture. Apomixis is a mechanism of clonal seed development that has a lot of promise for fixing heterozygosity and hybrid vigour. Apomeiosis (the production of an unreduced egg cell), parthenogenesis (the development of an embryo without fertilisation) and functional endosperm development are the three separate components of apomictic seed development. These three components have recently been discovered to be uncoupled in various crops, resulting in their partitioning. Understanding the genetic regulation of the apomictic process and its variations from the sexual process have been profound in recent years and are providing critical insights for this line of inquiry. When genes that are particularly or differently expressed during embryo and embryo sac production are identified, our molecular knowledge of apomixis will be significantly increased. Apomixis, in reality, will enable clonal seed production, allowing for more efficient and consistent harvests of high-quality seeds, fruits and vegetables at reduced costs. Apomixis technology is projected to have a revolutionary influence on agricultural and food production by decreasing cost and breeding time while eliminating the obstacles associated with sexual reproduction (such as incompatibility barriers) and vegetative propagation (e.g., viral transfer). However, the advancement of apomixes technology in agriculture demands a better awareness of the systems that control plant reproductive development.

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