Co-Authors:
Fernie, A.R., Abteilung Willmitzer, Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Pflanzenphysiologie, Am Mühlenberg 1, 14476 Golm, Germany
Tadmor, Y., Institute of Field and Vegetable Crops, Newe Ya'ar Research Center, Agricultural Research Organization, PO Box 1021, Ramat Yishay, 30095, Israel
Zamir, D., Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Faculty of Agriculture, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, PO Box 12, Rehovot, 76100, Israel
Abstract:
The narrow genetic basis of many crops combined with restrictions on the commercial use of genetically modified plants, has led to a surge of interest in exploring natural biodiversity as a source of novel alleles to improve the productivity, adaptation, quality and nutritional value of crops. Genetic methodologies have been applied to natural variation to improve quality aspects that are associated with the chemical composition of agricultural products. A future challenge in this emerging field is to integrate metabolic, phenotypic and genomic databases to allow a wider view of the plant metabolome and the application of this knowledge within genomics-assisted breeding. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.