Plant breeding, like several other classical fields of R&D in plant sciences has also been substantially influenced by the development and use of molecular markers. These markers have been found to be powerful tools for wide ranging applications in many plant breeding areas, notably, identification and analysis of quantitative/qualitative trait loci (QTLs) and their positioning on linkage maps; cloning of genes for desirable traits based on the molecular linkage maps; gene pyramiding and Marker-assisted selection (MAS), the determination and analysis of genetic diversity within germplasms and other plant collections and analysis of genome structures for several crop plants. As applied in breeding programs, the molecular markers help to accelerate the incorporation of genes that control or contribute to the variation of the target traits and also provide reliable information of kinship and phylogeny between species. Considerable progress and achievements in the area of molecular marker research have been reported for more than three decades now, ever since the first molecular marker application as a RFLP was reported by Botstein. Shirish A Ranade, Universal Molecular Markers for Plant Breeding and Genetics Analysis
Last date updated on December, 2024