Exploiting Wild Relatives for Genomics-assisted Breeding of Perennial Crops

Zoë Migicovsky, Sean Myles

Perennial crops are vital contributors to global food production and nutrition. However, the breeding of new perennial crops is an expensive and time-consuming process due to the large size and lengthy juvenile phase of many species. Genomics provides a valuable tool for improving the efficiency of breeding by allowing progeny possessing a trait of interest to be selected at the seed or seedling stage through marker-assisted selection (MAS). The benefits of MAS to a breeder are greatest when the targeted species takes a long time to reach maturity and is expensive to grow and maintain. Thus, MAS holds particular promise in perennials since they are often costly and time-consuming to grow to maturity and evaluate. Well-characterized germplasm that breeders can tap into for improving perennials is often limited in genetic diversity. Wild relatives are a largely untapped source of desirable traits including disease resistance, fruit quality, and rootstock characteristics. This review focuses on the use of genomics-assisted breeding in perennials, especially as it relates to the introgression of useful traits from wild relatives. The identification of genetic markers predictive of beneficial phenotypes derived from wild relatives is hampered by genomic tools designed for domesticated species that are often ill-suited for use in wild relatives. There is therefore an urgent need for better genomic resources from wild relatives. A further barrier to exploiting wild diversity through genomics is the phenotyping bottleneck: well-powered genetic mapping requires accurate and cost-effective characterization of large collections of diverse wild germplasm. While genomics will always be used in combination with traditional breeding methods, it is a powerful tool for accelerating the speed and reducing the costs of breeding while harvesting the potential of wild relatives for improving perennial crops.